[IC] Wok: Science Ascended

[GuyFawkes]

Tharan-Kel

Among those who stepped inside the teleportation circle was a Jushorun warrior. He had arrived in Salor a few days ago as an escort to a young human merchant who promised him good compensation if he did the job well. The trip took four days, and save for a few run ins with some wild beasts, which the warrior took care of handily, it was on the whole a fairly safe one. As soon as they entered one of Salor's gates, the eager merchant immediately paid the Jushorun and rushed on towards the market, where he said he was to deliver his goods.

Now when the man said good compensation, he really meant good compensation; the Jushorun had never held that much money in gold all at once in his entire life. He began to wonder what that man was carrying with him to warrant that much pay on a guardian, but he was not the type to put too much thought into matters that did not concern himself. And so he put to use his mental faculties into matters that did concern himself: what to do with all that gold.

Perhaps rather an uninspired decision, the Jushorun found himself in one of the taverns drowning himself and every patron present in ale and food. Suprisingly for someone of his looks and demeanor, he had never tasted a drop of liquor in his life, and so he indulged himself this time. Not surprisingly he had quite the tolerance, and with nothing else to do and having the money to waste, he drank and ate for two days straight.

On his third day in Salor, he found himself in a luxurious room he could only hope was an inn, with no recollection of the days past and having a severe case of hangover. While trying desperately to keep the world from spinnning around him, he went over his gear, then his pouch.

18 gold pieces.

That wasn't right. All that food and booze couldn't have possibly cost him all that money. Someone must have taken most of it.

Oh well, gain easy, lose as easily, he thought to himself. At least it appeared he had not lost any of his articles. He went on to check if he had bruises or any broken bones.

None. Good.

It seems like he avoided starting a fight this time. That, or heavens forbid he just beat the crap out of everyone so effortlessly. But then he would have woken up in a prison cell somewhere instead of some comfortable bed if that were the case.

Gingerly he made his way outside the room down to the dining hall, ordered the best they had on the menu, ate, and paid, adding in a handsome tip. 14 gold. Enough to give him a few days to look for a new job. But as fate would have it, it didn't take him a few days to find a new job. Not even a day, in fact. Not that he found one as well; he reckoned 14 gold was enough to take to the afterlife.

He stood atop the walls of Salor, looking down upon the black mass of moving flesh and steel that was to be his death, and surely the rest of the city. It didn't look like they were there to conquer. More like to destroy and purge. But despite the grim outlook, the Jushorun warrior stood tall, smiling. Truly if a warrior were to die, that was the way to go.

When the fighting started, it seemed their fears were largely unfounded, with the walls doing what they were supposed to do. The Jushorun was almost disappointed, but he cursed himself when for some reason, a golem broke through and all hell broke loose.

He immediately leapt into action, hitting the rock creature with flurry of blows, but to no effect. A small dent here or there, but not much damage to really divert its attention, which seemed to be the gate. With combined tenacity and luck, he was able to locate and damage the black crystal on its forehead, which seemed to disorient the golem. Disoriented, but not stopped. That, however was taken care by some generous application of acidic substance on the golem's arms and legs, provided by his earlier merchant client who stayed to fight.

And yet after all that hard work, he found himself there, standing inside a teleportation circle, inside the Citadel, right behind the throne split in twain a few moments ago by none other than Kolum Salor himself. The city had fallen; apparently there had been more than one of those rock creatures, and not all defenders were able to stop them. A select few were chosen to be teleported out of the city, among them a Dorukan guardsman who was entrusted with a platinum sphere, which was to be protected at all cost. The rest were to be left, they say, to defend the city. He knew they stayed to die.

A pity. To find out firsthand how strong Kolum Salor would have certainly been a high point of my life, he thought to himself as the Senub left the throne roon and the spell took effect, turning everything around him pitchblack. He didn't really know why he had gone with the others, had escaped, had left all those people to die, had left an opportunity to fight to his heart's content, to fight to his death.

Maybe he didn't want to die. Maybe he had something to do still. Maybe there was more at stake than just Salor that moved him beyond his usual self.

Maybe...

As the world swirled back into existence, he staggered to keep himself upright, but after shaking his head clear of all thoughts and aftereffects of the teleportation, a sudden surge of memory occured to him. He looked around at the people who teleported with him, and when he saw who he was looking for, he briskly strode towards him, grabbed him by the shoulder and turned the Doruk to face him.

"By the gods, it cannot be true..." he uttered as he took a closer look at the Doruk's face and confirmed his suspicions, then broke into laughter.

"August Winters? August "Badger" Winters?"