Asliendor's memories on the "Cemetery Watch," and on Yadeth and the poison forges.
She had to write it down while memory was still fresh. They had left the library to join a festival in Mirith. A festival that had been announced as the greatest of all festivals, and would change the world of Oberin. It is always odd enough for those that live archiving tales from the past to find themselves suddenly in the present; even odder to witness events that will be a turning point in the future. "The story of N'eroth is still to be written. Soon others will soon be in this same library trying to find out who Galandir was."
Late evening of the 228th day of the Growing Moon, year 432.
"We don't want anything getting in the way of this celebration," declared Asliendor Ivanshield on their way back to the bank. Cassandra and Charonia had met him in the Castle, when both girls were wondering about the Centaur's absence from his usual post. "I mean, look at everyone! They aren't paying any attenton at all."
"A troll could walk up behind them and steal all of their money and they would have no idea!"
"Yes. But I guess they would, was Mirith being invaded." Wishful thinking, eh? thought Cassandra to herself, as she said these words. "Or maybe not."
Eleswyr's attention was caught by the arrival of the small group. "What should we be paying attention to?"
"A difficult thing to miss when a giant is waving a club in your face, yes?" mocked Asliendor.
"I wouldn't be so sure," sighed the wizard.
Eleswyr raised her voice again, from the confusion of the auction. "Do you think the king will be coming out anytime soon?"
"Oh, no," replied the former Commander of the Mirith Vanguard, "There are many events planned. He is coming out at the peak of the festival."
"Perhaps he'll visit, but that is when his announcement is going to come."
"And Eles, replying to your question," turned Cassandra, "no one is paying attention to whatever may happen while we are distracted with festivities."
"I may be drinking ale, but my friend Aethyx is waiting with several pures in hand!"
The druid's reference to the sparkling beverage seemed to have an echo in the ranger's ears.
"I'll fight an army of brigands drunk any day!" he claimed with a hiccup.
"Uh ho. That's what they always say."
"It is an art. Oh but you don't know me, apparently, Cassandra."
"The art of seeing double, yes."
Asliendor shook his head. "You just don't know my experience. Or my capacity for ale."
"Drink you under table young man," yelled a voice in the crowd.
"I guess I'll have plenty of time to know you better in the next few days, then."
Asliendor's virility was hurt for a second: "Faustus, did you just call me young man?"
"I can see a glint in Cassandra's eye," suggested Eleswyr, trying to use Cassandra as an excuse for the questions she wanted to ask herself, "She will be wresting some arcane lore from you in no time, Asliendor!"
"Oh, I'm always pleased to tell a story!"
Despite his hiccups, the ranger must have sounded convincing enough for a small group to form around him. Claire abandoned her dealings at the auction, to take a place next to her red robed friend. Cassandra caught the hint. "Oh! A drunken story teller! I love them! You might even feel at ease to tell us a love story from the past..."
"Oh!!! I love love stories!!!" Druids.
"I don't think I have any stories about love, I'm afraid."
"That's not what your reputation tells me. But drink first, Alsi."
"Ooo! Man in black has a reputation with the ladies...."
"What have you heard?" inquired Asliendor, raising an eyebrow.
"It starts with an 'E.'"
The ranger's face went flat. Between hiccups, he mumbled that he did not want to talk about such topic.
"Hmm.. perhaps this is a story of pain, rather than love."
"Why not, if I may ask?"
"Not the time or the place for such a tale." The auctioneer was now announcing the new item for sale. "How ironic... a yellow rose."
"I hear time or ginseng heals all wounds, warrior."
"We have all the time in the world. You can start by happier tales."
Claire passed some ginseng around. The old ranger took a drag of it with relief, when his turn arrived. "I could tell you about... Where the title commander came from! 'ello Amere!" said the man, turning to his right. "Alright... Well long ago, when had just become a new adventurer in Lerilin. I met two people who seemed, and we managed to move things along, typically. One was Father Amalphus Vei, a cleric. The other a fighter named Willow Hauksen. The story of my friend Willow is a very, very long story... so I wont get into that just yet."
"A romantic name..."
"I remember fighting with Willow and Vei and the cemetery one day... When all of a sudden, bracken started to pop up! And the undead clawed from their graves in numbers I couldn't imagne at the time! Some of us began to hear a strange voice in the back of our minds. This strange event seemed to keep going for some time. We realized it could only be one thing, Lerilin's cemetery was infested by a necromancer."
"Long before Marthonis, I assume."
"A powerful one, and no one was very sturdy, it was quite a challenge. Oh yes, long before Marthonis. His name was Nadirah, and his origins are still unknown to us. He haunted that cemetery for so long that I formed a group called 'the cemetery watch.' And people just started calling me commander, and that is where the title comes from!"
"I think I've found some old reference to that. Oh, com'on! Give us details!"
"Long before any of the vanguards started, once the King created the Mirith vanguard, it just stuck. Well, mostly it was just a long drawn out battle."
"What happened to the necromancer?"
"He killed many many people, Evers finally put an end to him at the final battle."
"Evers," smiled Eleswyr, "What a cutie. Someone was trying to set her up with the king the other day."
"That is also when Seth started to first appear."
"I thought Seth was older than Mirith."
"Seth is quite old. Rumor has it he used to be Mirith's royal mage under a different king. But this is also when we began learning of his verma stone fading."
"Not Mirith's King, but one King," corrected Claire.
"Apparently the verma stone is a corrupted piece of the curio," added Asliendor. "Haha, I remember when Seth accidently shut off all the portals trying to activate the fire portal..."
"What exactly is the stone for?"
"For keeping him alive."
"Ah! That explains his longevity. Asli? Is the story over?"
"Wasn't a very long story."
"Tell us another one!"
"When did Galandir become King?"
"As long as I can remember being here."
"After Elara."
"When I first came to Mirith, it was with Willow and Father Vei."
"Is he 432 years old?"
"Yes." Claire always knew the age of everyone.
"Nafets and Palmer were discussing things in Lerilin, and we snuck up to the window to listen... Anyway, they had the first reports of the now infamous Black Hand. And we were to deliver these reports to Galandir. So we went to Mirith, my first time ever seeing the city. We spoke with Galandir.. I remember meeting Zexe."
"Who was the Black Hand at the time?"
"Same people who are in it now. Brigands... the Twins. I don't think we had realized the Alliance was working for them yet. That came later with Yadeth and the creation of the poison forges."
"But that's a topic you want to avoid?"
"The Mhara folks helped to kill Yadeth, didn't they?"
"I could talk about that time, the parts you are thinking of hadn't yet happened. And yes, Kolarysan spoke to me of what we needed to do. Kolarysan is the king of the Mhara, he gave me a very powerful, and strange ring. I still don't know what it did."
"What ring?"
"Nita arrived with her serpents to finish him off. Yadeth, that is. Erm... Excuse me... Yes, excuse me... Just for a moment," asked the ranger, making his way closer to the place where some others were still selling their goods at an auction. He came back, after announcing something special Mirith had for sale. "Hm, where was I..."
"Poison forges."
"Poison forges..."
"And how you killed Elefin's husband."
"My memory is fuzzy I'm afraid. Easy there, Cassandra."
"Er.. You, I mean, you, in the plural!"
"Anyway, after killing Yadeth, we turned our attention to the forges themselves. This is when Kolarysan gave me the ring I think."
"Were they destroyed?"
"The twins had used the forges to arm giants and trolls with poison weapons. So we had trolls running around with poison blades! Giants with poison spikes on their clubs... it was getting out of hand. My job was to lure the twins away from the forges with the ring Kolarysan gave me."
"But?"
"Things came up, I was dealing with a great many other things rather far away. So Zexe took my place, and he ended up having to fight off both of the Twins at the same time."
"Without a ring..."
"However, the forges were destroyed... Zexe was badly wounded though. Which leads to the whole story about needing the centaurs to heal him... and of course... the blood dagger... I'll get to that part eventually."
"If it's not too painful. I still don't want to tire you."
"Not yet, and not here though. I'll tell the one of Willow next."
"Great!"
"But not right now, I'm getting a bit tired."
Cassandra stopped writing and looked at the text. It was getting long, very long. "Poor Asli. He ended up giving us a whole load of troubles as he was trying to tell us a story." Claire agreed, "Now we have to search for information on all those names and events." Nothing that would be unpleasant to do. On that same night in Mirith, Asliendor told the story of Willow Hauksen. But that would have to be added on a different scroll, for the sake of those who would one day want to read it.
[Thanks, Asli! It is indeed much more fun to learn about the lore in game! We shall add links and bits to this post, as we find them. I thought it better to post this anyway, even if just to tease the audience about future topics to be published here.]
Late evening of the 228th day of the Growing Moon, year 432.
"We don't want anything getting in the way of this celebration," declared Asliendor Ivanshield on their way back to the bank. Cassandra and Charonia had met him in the Castle, when both girls were wondering about the Centaur's absence from his usual post. "I mean, look at everyone! They aren't paying any attenton at all."
- Faustus:
- 500
- Iceane:
- *Sighs*
- Rheus:
- 400
- Eleswyr:
- *shakes hands*
- Iceane:
- 1k from Iceane.
- Eleswyr:
- hehe
- Rheus:
- 550
- Hania:
- *laughs*
- Gandalfo:
- *smiles*
- Rheus:
- Hmm.
- Claire:
- *laughs*
- Lus:
- *smiles*
- Iceane:
- 1k from Ice going once.
"A troll could walk up behind them and steal all of their money and they would have no idea!"
- Marlick:
- What???
"Yes. But I guess they would, was Mirith being invaded." Wishful thinking, eh? thought Cassandra to herself, as she said these words. "Or maybe not."
- Rheus:
- Take 'em
- Iceane:
- 1k going twice.
- Faustus:
- 1500
- Lus:
- 1.1
- Rheus:
- 1.1
- Iceane:
- 1.5k Faustus
1.5k going once...
1.5k going twice....
Eleswyr's attention was caught by the arrival of the small group. "What should we be paying attention to?"
- Iceane:
- And....
*meep!*
"A difficult thing to miss when a giant is waving a club in your face, yes?" mocked Asliendor.
- Rheus:
- 6
- Iceane:
- Sold!
My god... - Rheus:
- You did it again!
"I wouldn't be so sure," sighed the wizard.
- Iceane:
- 1.5k. Get outa here!
Eleswyr raised her voice again, from the confusion of the auction. "Do you think the king will be coming out anytime soon?"
- Iceane:
- Jastherin!
If you sell 20 potions, you're outa here. - Hania:
- *laughs*
"Oh, no," replied the former Commander of the Mirith Vanguard, "There are many events planned. He is coming out at the peak of the festival."
- Iceane:
- Battle Axe of Speed!
- Hania:
- 10k
- Iceane:
- Do I hear 20k?
- Tamzin:
- 20k
- Gandalfo:
- 12
- Iceane:
- 20k from Tamzin
"Perhaps he'll visit, but that is when his announcement is going to come."
- Hania:
- 35k
- Iceane:
- 35k Hania.
- Faustus:
- 40
- Ronan:
- 37K
- Iceane:
- 40k Faustus.
- Matthias:
- Auction?
- Iceane:
- Battle axe of Speed.
- Ronan:
- 42K
- Iceane:
- 42k Ronan.
"And Eles, replying to your question," turned Cassandra, "no one is paying attention to whatever may happen while we are distracted with festivities."
- Iceane:
- 42k Ronan going twice.
- Rheus:
- *stares at claire*
- Crisian:
- Bye bye.
- Iceane:
- 42k Ronan going once.
Garion sleepy!
42k Ronan going twice.
And.......
..........
*Doesn't Meep*
Sold! - Ronan:
- goodie
"I may be drinking ale, but my friend Aethyx is waiting with several pures in hand!"
The druid's reference to the sparkling beverage seemed to have an echo in the ranger's ears.
"I'll fight an army of brigands drunk any day!" he claimed with a hiccup.
"Uh ho. That's what they always say."
"It is an art. Oh but you don't know me, apparently, Cassandra."
"The art of seeing double, yes."
Asliendor shook his head. "You just don't know my experience. Or my capacity for ale."
"Drink you under table young man," yelled a voice in the crowd.
"I guess I'll have plenty of time to know you better in the next few days, then."
Asliendor's virility was hurt for a second: "Faustus, did you just call me young man?"
"I can see a glint in Cassandra's eye," suggested Eleswyr, trying to use Cassandra as an excuse for the questions she wanted to ask herself, "She will be wresting some arcane lore from you in no time, Asliendor!"
"Oh, I'm always pleased to tell a story!"
Despite his hiccups, the ranger must have sounded convincing enough for a small group to form around him. Claire abandoned her dealings at the auction, to take a place next to her red robed friend. Cassandra caught the hint. "Oh! A drunken story teller! I love them! You might even feel at ease to tell us a love story from the past..."
"Oh!!! I love love stories!!!" Druids.
"I don't think I have any stories about love, I'm afraid."
"That's not what your reputation tells me. But drink first, Alsi."
"Ooo! Man in black has a reputation with the ladies...."
"What have you heard?" inquired Asliendor, raising an eyebrow.
"It starts with an 'E.'"
The ranger's face went flat. Between hiccups, he mumbled that he did not want to talk about such topic.
"Hmm.. perhaps this is a story of pain, rather than love."
"Why not, if I may ask?"
"Not the time or the place for such a tale." The auctioneer was now announcing the new item for sale. "How ironic... a yellow rose."
"I hear time or ginseng heals all wounds, warrior."
"We have all the time in the world. You can start by happier tales."
Claire passed some ginseng around. The old ranger took a drag of it with relief, when his turn arrived. "I could tell you about... Where the title commander came from! 'ello Amere!" said the man, turning to his right. "Alright... Well long ago, when had just become a new adventurer in Lerilin. I met two people who seemed, and we managed to move things along, typically. One was Father Amalphus Vei, a cleric. The other a fighter named Willow Hauksen. The story of my friend Willow is a very, very long story... so I wont get into that just yet."
"A romantic name..."
"I remember fighting with Willow and Vei and the cemetery one day... When all of a sudden, bracken started to pop up! And the undead clawed from their graves in numbers I couldn't imagne at the time! Some of us began to hear a strange voice in the back of our minds. This strange event seemed to keep going for some time. We realized it could only be one thing, Lerilin's cemetery was infested by a necromancer."
"Long before Marthonis, I assume."
"A powerful one, and no one was very sturdy, it was quite a challenge. Oh yes, long before Marthonis. His name was Nadirah, and his origins are still unknown to us. He haunted that cemetery for so long that I formed a group called 'the cemetery watch.' And people just started calling me commander, and that is where the title comes from!"
"I think I've found some old reference to that. Oh, com'on! Give us details!"
"Long before any of the vanguards started, once the King created the Mirith vanguard, it just stuck. Well, mostly it was just a long drawn out battle."
"What happened to the necromancer?"
"He killed many many people, Evers finally put an end to him at the final battle."
"Evers," smiled Eleswyr, "What a cutie. Someone was trying to set her up with the king the other day."
"That is also when Seth started to first appear."
"I thought Seth was older than Mirith."
"Seth is quite old. Rumor has it he used to be Mirith's royal mage under a different king. But this is also when we began learning of his verma stone fading."
"Not Mirith's King, but one King," corrected Claire.
"Apparently the verma stone is a corrupted piece of the curio," added Asliendor. "Haha, I remember when Seth accidently shut off all the portals trying to activate the fire portal..."
"What exactly is the stone for?"
"For keeping him alive."
"Ah! That explains his longevity. Asli? Is the story over?"
"Wasn't a very long story."
"Tell us another one!"
"When did Galandir become King?"
"As long as I can remember being here."
"After Elara."
"When I first came to Mirith, it was with Willow and Father Vei."
"Is he 432 years old?"
"Yes." Claire always knew the age of everyone.
"Nafets and Palmer were discussing things in Lerilin, and we snuck up to the window to listen... Anyway, they had the first reports of the now infamous Black Hand. And we were to deliver these reports to Galandir. So we went to Mirith, my first time ever seeing the city. We spoke with Galandir.. I remember meeting Zexe."
"Who was the Black Hand at the time?"
"Same people who are in it now. Brigands... the Twins. I don't think we had realized the Alliance was working for them yet. That came later with Yadeth and the creation of the poison forges."
"But that's a topic you want to avoid?"
"The Mhara folks helped to kill Yadeth, didn't they?"
"I could talk about that time, the parts you are thinking of hadn't yet happened. And yes, Kolarysan spoke to me of what we needed to do. Kolarysan is the king of the Mhara, he gave me a very powerful, and strange ring. I still don't know what it did."
"What ring?"
"Nita arrived with her serpents to finish him off. Yadeth, that is. Erm... Excuse me... Yes, excuse me... Just for a moment," asked the ranger, making his way closer to the place where some others were still selling their goods at an auction. He came back, after announcing something special Mirith had for sale. "Hm, where was I..."
"Poison forges."
"Poison forges..."
"And how you killed Elefin's husband."
"My memory is fuzzy I'm afraid. Easy there, Cassandra."
"Er.. You, I mean, you, in the plural!"
"Anyway, after killing Yadeth, we turned our attention to the forges themselves. This is when Kolarysan gave me the ring I think."
"Were they destroyed?"
"The twins had used the forges to arm giants and trolls with poison weapons. So we had trolls running around with poison blades! Giants with poison spikes on their clubs... it was getting out of hand. My job was to lure the twins away from the forges with the ring Kolarysan gave me."
"But?"
"Things came up, I was dealing with a great many other things rather far away. So Zexe took my place, and he ended up having to fight off both of the Twins at the same time."
"Without a ring..."
"However, the forges were destroyed... Zexe was badly wounded though. Which leads to the whole story about needing the centaurs to heal him... and of course... the blood dagger... I'll get to that part eventually."
"If it's not too painful. I still don't want to tire you."
"Not yet, and not here though. I'll tell the one of Willow next."
"Great!"
"But not right now, I'm getting a bit tired."
Cassandra stopped writing and looked at the text. It was getting long, very long. "Poor Asli. He ended up giving us a whole load of troubles as he was trying to tell us a story." Claire agreed, "Now we have to search for information on all those names and events." Nothing that would be unpleasant to do. On that same night in Mirith, Asliendor told the story of Willow Hauksen. But that would have to be added on a different scroll, for the sake of those who would one day want to read it.
[Thanks, Asli! It is indeed much more fun to learn about the lore in game! We shall add links and bits to this post, as we find them. I thought it better to post this anyway, even if just to tease the audience about future topics to be published here.]
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