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A bolt of powerful magic hits me and I can feel my life fading away and with it, reality.
My eyes open and there, before me is a tall, familiar looking old man with a long grey beard and weatherbeaten skin. He stands clad in a dark grey robe and bearing a carved wooden staff. He nods in greeting, shifting his weight upon his staff and pulls out a wooden board with a piece of parchment on it and a quill.
“Again? You know this really isn’t the best time to do this..."
“Considering what you’ve just been hit with, can you honestly say you have anything better to do right now?” the old man asks, laughing at the question.
There wasn’t much I could answer that with, if anything. After all, I’m still not certain I haven’t been killed. Admittedly, if I had known this was the afterlife, I probably would have killed a lot more people, might at least make things interesting.
“Nice to see we agree on something then, before we begin… do you have any questions?”
“Is this the afterlife? Do I get paid for this? What is the meaning of life? Can I borrow that walking stick?” What can I say? If I am dead, then he can’t kill me for being annoying. If I’m not dead though that may be about to change.
The old man looks at me for a moment, and then continues, “Well then, since you don’t have any questions, I must ask… if you have such a fear of fire, why is it that you actively attempt to set buildings and other people on fire?”
“I wouldn’t necessarily say I fear fire, if anything I’m actually rather fond of it, there are few of life’s challenges that cannot be solved through the immolation of everyone around you. What I dislike are the ashes that remain behind once the fire is gone. Ashes mean there’s no more life here, nothing left and it’s time to move on again.
As to why I try to start fires, well… after many years of fighting, raiding and killing, my people learned a remarkable truth about the other races. Almost all of them are afraid of being set on fire. In the little time I have spent outside of my village, this has yet to fail me”
“Then let me ask of something else, you have been using a new form of magic recently, one rather foreign to you all things considered. Why?”
“That is a far simpler question to answer. Why? Because I was told I couldn’t. Back in Summer Hill, while I was talking to ‘The Trickster’ I asked him about the magic he was using, and whether he would be willing to teach it. I was told it would be beyond my ability to learn, how could I resist?
From what I’ve learned of it so far, it seems like it would have quite a lot of use if I ever return to the wilds, being able to change my appearance almost at will would certainly be effective against any group of bandits. The ability to hide any sound would simply be an added bonus, it would certainly help when working with Chirya.”
“Ah yes, Chirya. You don’t think she might be annoyed at a certain note you left her recently… one that I note you have made no effort to find a response to?”
“In all honesty... no. She herself has done similar in the past, knowing her, any reply she would make, she’ll leave somewhere in my way and I’ll find just after she’s left the area. Actually… that does seem to happen far too often. Quite often we will both find ourselves in the same area, yet never actually see each other. It certainly makes things interesting at least.
As much as I miss her though, the situations she would get us into… she once had us try and besiege the town of Sul, well, if I’m being honest, it was more of a village than a town. The reason? She was bored. Before I tell you how we did it, just think for a moment how you would do it. A quiet village, thirty people at the most living there, on the edge of the wilds. These villagers were fairly well armed, and had a well-trained militia for the nearly constant problems caused by the wilderness.
Thought how you would do it? It probably wasn’t this. We surrounded the village, yes, surrounded it, just the two of us. This was only the second strangest thing that happened that day. The strangest was that it actually worked. The villagers did not believe that we would try something quite so abysmal without having a small army in hiding nearby. I’m not entirely sure if they ever really learned the truth, but I hope so, it wouldn’t be quite as exciting to do it twice if they haven’t learned.
That was about only a few days before we both went our separate ways near Summer Hill, and I haven’t seen her since… although it was certainly amusing to find out about the holes she put in Harold. “
“What about this town you have been fighting in, this Dreven?”
“I’m glad to be out of there in all honesty, those wolves were simply too much. They are a perversion of the natural order and have no place within the wilds. The sooner they can be dealt with, the sooner we can leave this place, and travel further. Who knows, we may find more members, or we might all leave, one of the two.”
“Interesting, my final question then, the other members of the party… You've had a fair bit of time to form an opinion of them. What do you think of them?”
“They are certainly convenient, as a group we achieve much more than we would separate, but this group is not the most reliable. Harold is practical, if someone is dead, they cannot act against us… a good philosophy, if we weren’t hunting someone long dead, who controls undead wolves. He has few issues with looting, so he would be decent if he were not so fixated on separating the party while we adventure.
Maebh is powerful, very powerful, yet sentimental. An odd mix for a Danann. She is good company to adventure with, but will often let sentiment cloud her vision. Those prisoners were a good example, if they were released, they had every possibility to turn into more wolves and an enemy behind us as well as before us is not an ideal situation.
Breanna… well, Breanna makes Chirya seem like a travelling hero of the people. There is something very wrong with her mental state, but it certainly helps whenever we need to kill something. With every town we go to, I find myself expecting her to go on a murdering spree and get us chased out of town. Again.
Tremor is a small and very flammable wall. While it is amusing to see him thrown at various targets we have met, he seems much more capable building than he does fighting. If he were to actually hit his targets they have little chance to continue breathing, but he seems to be far more successful at desperately flailing than fighting.
And then there is me. In all honesty, I remain with this party because it pays the best, and they don’t usually object too loudly when there are objects in need of stealing. This does not engender much in the way of trust among the party. We all know that the others will get the job done, but when there’s nothing left for us to hunt, what then?”
“Odd, but very well, thank you for your time, you may return to your world again… Oh and try to move out of the wolf’s way.”
The old man fades away, and reality seems to reassert itself, as do the wolves moving closer to Maebh and myself…
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My eyes open and before me is a very different sight. Where I was in the middle of a life and death struggle just moment before, now I am sitting on a tree-stump at a campfire at night. Before me is familiar old man, clad in dark grey. A carven staff lies beside him and he carries a quill and wooden board with parchment. He smiles across at me.
"That was a nasty head knock girl. Now, do you have any questions?"
I shake my head, still trying to come to grips with the situation I have found myself in.
"Very good then, we shall begin. We are very curious, what are your values?"
I take a deep breath and then start to talk.
"The things that I feel most strongly about are strength, morality and justice, though, for obvious and, quite frankly, disturbing reasons, you would not think this…I’m a bit of sociopath, or psychopath, depending on which you find to be more fitting. Honestly, I think I’m both. However, back to the matter at hand. Strength, honor and justice hold strong with me due to my background. Now, I know we Leathe are not exactly renowned for our bravery and/or excellence on the battlefield, but hearing fables or warriors and the like really took a place in me, so strength, I find, is quite a good trait to have, both physical and mental. As for morality and justice, this is going to be a massive hit of hypocrisy, though my true opinion. Morality is possibly one of the best characteristics to have, the knowledge of right and wrong and all that crap, justice, honour, and integrity…they all come into this category. These are, what I find, to be some of the most important things in the world, though, in this age of Norbayne, is hard to find."
"What was your view on the supernatural? Have these views changed throughout the course of your little adventure?"
"I have always had this idea of no divine over-ruling spirit, and the same applies to the supernatural creatures we've run across. I was always taught as a child that these things were simply used to scare children into doing their parent’s bidding and the like; however, this journey has made me rethink my opinions on the world completely. Undead wolves being controlled by an ex-king psychopath who should be otherwise dead? Come on, I’m oblivious, but even I know something’s up when that comes into play! I get the whole “it’s magic and that’s all there is to it” thing, but there’s definitely something, more, there has to be something that the world of Norbayne isn’t seeing. As to my views on the supernatural now? It’s real, and it should be feared, like death."
"Do you think redemption is possible? If so, can anyone be redeemed, or are there only certain circumstances that can be? If not, why do you think nothing can redeem itself?"
"Redemption is a possibility, for most people. All hope is lost for me though, hurt too many people, caused too much pain, but other people could do it. Though, I hope some people never do manage redemption. The world is such a horrible place, but there is still some good left in the world."
"What do you think is wrong with society, overall?"
"The majority of the people of this world, have a tendency to be avaricious, whether it is for wealth or power. It is our greatest flaw, because, let’s face it, there are so many flaws with the world."
"What is your current long-term goal for this venture?"
"I would say that my long-term goal would be for, at the end of this, to get paid…but…that is sort of out unlikely, so maybe just to live through this bloody (literally bloody) venture. Maybe come out of it with some valuables so I can set myself up, far away from Greenstone all together."
"And then, what is your current short-tern goal at the moment?"
"At this point in time I just want to survive. I have an ominous feeling about how all this is going to pan out, and, to put it lightly, there is a substantial chance of dying by “Wolf King evil kill-iness”, so, I’m essentially preparing for the worst. Though, it would be very pleasant to actually live through this thing."
"My last question then, before I let you get back to it all, some of us are quite interested. Why do you feel Harold Oakenshield doesn't get more attention from the ladies?"
"He is a very…unique Invarrian. As to reasons why he doesn’t get, as you say, more attention from the ladies, I give you this image: picture a half dog half man covered in whiskey, curled up on a mat, shedding everywhere, laying so close to the fireplace that you’re actually afraid that he’s about to combust… Come get it ladies!
But, in all seriousness, he is a sea wolf, and racism is an issue that needs to be brought to light. Around here, his kind are known for being merciless raiders. Plus, after a month or so of travelling around with the dog, you learn pretty quickly that he has no filter between his brain and his canines.