Sierra Ju'ent: Rhinestone Cowgirl
-
Hot.
So hot.
The desert sun beat down on Sierra, and she wondered, not for the first time in the past five years, why she even gave a wit about the damn curse any more.
A fate worse than death couldn’t possibly be any worse than anything she’d had to do already.
Pulling her shoulder sharply forward, she bounced her knap sack up her back. It had been slipping down for hours, and while shrugging it back up wouldn’t do any good in the long run, it gave her something to do besides think about how hot and thirsty she was.
Oh how she wished she had never met Tag. She should have just stayed home like a good girl, and maybe have become an apothecary like her mother.
If she would have stayed home, she wouldn’t have followed Tag into that cavern. And then they wouldn’t have broken into that tomb. Which wasn’t a tomb at all, but a temple sealed by Finder Wyvernspur himself.
Yep. If she had known what was good for her, she would have just stayed home.
But on the upside, if she ever saw Tag again, Sierra had been assured that she’d suffer no penalty if she killed him.
Which she happily would.
Pausing a moment, Sierra pushed up the brim of her hat with the tip of her index finger, her spare hand patting her belt searching for her water canteen. Maybe she could squeeze out just one more drop of water from it. Tipping her canteen up to her lips, she continued to squint her eyes, staring at the sky.
A drop of liquid coolness dripped out of the canteen, stretching towards her tongue. It wasn’t much, but she wasn’t going to complain. Then the drop began to jiggle. It began to shake loose from the canteen.
Within seconds, Sierra realized that wasn’t the only thing shaking. But she didn’t care, she just wanted that water. Tapping the end of the canteen with her hand, she urged the droplet on, begging it to do it’s job and wet her lips. And just when it seemed to be listening, a sharp crag of rock burst forth from the ground, knocking Sierra’s canteen from her hand.Rolling over to her stomach, she frantically scampered after her last drop of water as it skidded towards the edge of a newly opened crevice.
Almost there.
Just as she reached out for the canteen, another crag of rock thrust up behind her heels, pushing her forward, her fingertips nudging the teetering canteen over the edge of the crevice.
“GODS DAMMIT!”
She didn’t care that the earth seemed to be working its way to pushing her down the crevice as well, she wanted that last damn drop of water. Pounding her fists and kicking her feet into the dusty ground, Sierra screamed out her frustration until her throat threatened to give out
“I got it! I get the point! You can stop now!”
All at once the ground stop shaking. The rumbling quieted.
Rolling over into a sitting position, she dusted herself off, and looked up churlishly towards the cavern that the earthquake had opened up.
“I just wanted a damn drink of water…”
Pouting, Sierra picked up her hat, slamming it back on top of her head, gathering her knap sack, bow, sword and fiddle, walking towards the cave entrance as she looped each piece of her baggage over her shoulders or anchored them to her belt.
The burning light of the desert soon faded behind her, giving way to frigid dampness and inky black. Striking a piece of flint to her boot heel, Sierra touched it to her torch, watching the ruby glow before it leapt into dancing flames. The amber glow alighted the interior of the cavern, revealing a small hidden crypt, not unlike the one she herself had broken into years ago. Things looked normal here so far.
Then it hit her.
The smell of putrid rotting flesh.
Great, that was just what she needed to complete her day.
Bending her arm over her shoulder, she gripped an arrow from her quiver, wrapping the tip in a bit of dry gauze that had been hanging off one of the inanimate skeletons. Wrapping it around the tip of the arrow, she touched it to the torch and lit it just as she felt a squeeze around her neck.
He just said to clean it out. He didn’t say how.
Fumbling around in her pouches, a grin broke out on her face as she touched a greasy thin flask.
Sierra shook the flask three times and tossed it in the direction with the most pungent smell. Notching her arrow on her bow, she waited until the smell and the sound of undead crept closer. The shuffling was just about to round the corner. Flexing her arm a little more, she pulled back even tighter on her bow and held her breath, preparing her body to run like hell after she let her arrow knock.
One.
Two.
Three.
She let go of her arrow, hearing the whistling through the air. Standing for a moment in morbid curiosity as to exactly how big of a boom the arrow would make when it hit the spilled mixture of powder and oil, she remembered in the back of her mind that it would most likely kill her too if she stood there to watch the show.
Turning quickly, Sierra sprinted to the entrance, shielding her eyes from the growing spears of light.
BOOM!
And suddenly, she was flying through the air. Then over the crevice. The very same that her canteen had slipped over.
Well, if she was going to die, hopefully she wouldn’t die thirsty.
Sometime later, Sierra awoke to the sensation of water creeping up her nose and choking her throat.
Water?
There’s no water in the desert.
Lifting her head quickly, she coughed up mouthfuls of slimy water, and looked around.
She heard the sounds of the forest. She saw tall trees, and small animals scurrying from shrub to shrub.
This sure as hell wasn’t the desert.
Glancing down at the pool of water that she was standing in, Sierra quickly assessed it to be undrinkable.
“Funny. Very funny. You’re a funny man, really.”
Sierra gathered up her meager belongings, which had been scattered all around the edge of the pond and covered in thick green slime. Slamming her slime covered hat back on top of her head, she glanced around, locating a tiny path with a large sign next to it.
NARFELL - North
Narfell? Never heard of the place. Maybe I’ll just go sou-
Sierra felt a tight squeeze around her neck.
Dammit. Okay… North it is.
-
Sierra stared at the small man, then began to extend her hand to the book, unsure of what to do. Without warning, her head began to pound, drums filling her ears with thier thumping. Louder and louder, until she could do naught but pull her hands away, using them to cover her ears. Words flooded into her mind, pulling at her bones from within her body.
She felt everything around her begin to slip away…
Soft prayers and blessings from a solitary Selunite priestess drifted through the room and over the stirring Sierra. She had nearly slipped from life into the grips of a very long sleep, from which she would never wake.
But the prayers.... somehow, had pulled her back.
Groggily, Sierra struggled to open her eyes as the woman who had spoken the prayers, rose and left the room quietly- long gone before Sierra was able to see her face.
Awake once again, Sierra still felt the tiredness that came with the deep sleep of a month's time. Something seemed missing. She could still feel something wrong in her core of her being.
But for now...
She was awake.
((Sierra's recovery due to a sucessful heal check... temporarily. winks))
-
Prayers of Kelemvor, Tempus, Selune, and many other unnamed gods drifted around Sierra’s body. Though at times, she seemed stronger, Sierra’s body still yet seem to continue withering away.
The only blessing that anyone could seem to note, was that she remained quiet and peaceful, oblivious of her own suffering.
–--------------
Iztlibckit alghitzbib dur nal.
That’s what the little man said, his hand raising to his goggles, adjusting them over his face. Sierra tried to figure out what it was he was trying to tell her, but when she couldn’t after a while, she simply contented herself with staring at the little man’s unusual pointy hair.
Blibthy dur nal nghthkit bit?
Sierra tipped her head in question, and the little man just sighed despondently and shook his head. Then suddenly, his hand swung through the air towards her head.
SMACK!
“Ouch! Dammit to hells!” Sierra shouted out, rubbing her head and wincing in pain. “You don’t have to hit me like that… OUCH!”
“Can you understand me now?” said the little man, nodding with a grin as soon as he saw that Sierra did. “Good….”
Regarding the little man with a disgruntled expression, she brushed her hair out of her face. “Who the hells are you? And where am I?”
“Well, that is a good question indeed!” the little man perked up, then hung his head sadly. “I only wish I could answer it. But, I can’t. Too bad, so sad… ain’t it all a shame?”
Sierra continued to stare at the little man.
“Since you can’t help me…” she began, the little man suddenly holding up his hand.
“I’m you. You’re in you.”
The little man sighed once again, seeing that she didn’t understand. Silly mostly sane people. Why did they have to think so linearly?
“But I thought you said you couldn’t answer-”
The little man held up a hand again. “You see, at that moment at that time, couldn’t, but I wished I could, I was sad, and it was a shame. But a few moments after that when I did answer you finally, I couldn’t anser the question you asked right then, but the question I had only previously wished to answer before, and decided at that moment to answer. You see, time progresses and everything changes from one moment to the next. You find out what happens in one moment, then you know, but you don’t know what happens if you had chosen the alternative. Of course until the very next moment when you do what you hadn’t done and you find out…”
“Huh?”The little man sighned again.
Sane people…. Bleh.
“Remember that. And forget it. But now, come on. We need to go. Hurry up and stay there.”
She pressed her fingers to her temple rubbing them gently. The next she opened her eyes, she found herself staring after the little man. No longer were they in the white room with no walls or doors, but now in a darkened hallway, paintings hanging on the walls. Turning her head, she glanced away to examine the paintings. It was there, she saw herself. Or at least, things she had done…
“Welcome to your memory”
The little man waved her on, gesturing for her to follow him.
As she walked down the hallway, she couldn’t help but look from painting to painting, seeing her life from the outside.
The day she was born, her parents, when she first came to Narfell. Nico…
All of it was there.
Every sin and every good deed.
Panic whelled up within her, wanting to look away from the paintings. No one should have to see their life paraded out in front of them.
A hand grasped her arm, stopping her.
“There they are Me.”
The little man lifted his hand, pointing down the hallway. There at the end of the corridoor was a pair of winged creatures, their heads anchored upside down on their shoulders, feet where their hands should be. One by one, they ripped frames from the walls, throwing them into an icy fire.
“Stop them… before you forget your future.”
The little man plopped down on the ground, and took out a book, stuffing it into his mouth and began eating it like a sandwich.
“You should relax. You’ve got plenty of time if you hurry.”
He then held out the book towards her, drool and bite marks on the spine.
“Want some theology?”
A pinch of pepper, dash of salt.
Cook to a rolling boil.
Nothing like a good serving of soul soup.
-
Sierra lain within the temple, still, her body’s warmth ebbing away. The fever had finally broken, but only to bring a chilling coldness to the woman. Her skin had now begun to take on a pale bluish grey cast, as though she had been left out in the cold too long, and was freezing to death. But this was not the case. She was inside the temple of Kelemvor, the clerics and helpers there keeping blankets piled high upon her body, doing whatever they could to keep her body warm. But nothing helped.
Some of the best healers within Narfell tried their best to stave off what seemed inevitable, her death, but it seemed nothing could stop whatever sickness it was that had claimed her.
But these were not the strangest symptoms, or the most frightening.
As her illness progressed, so did tattoo that marked her arm, the tendrils snaking their way beyond her arm now, encompassing her chest, her neck, and now crawling up her neck.
–--------------
Sierra sat in the middle of a white room, only strange voices coming from a source that she couldn’t see to keep her company. No doors, no windows… Only.. White.
Laying back, she tried once again to go to sleep. But she had already slept what seemed like for a solid week, and she didn’t think she had it in her to sleep through another.
Then behind her came footsteps. Looking over her shoulder, came a short man, his dark hair brushed up into a point with a curl at the top, and thick black goggles covered the man’s eyes. A long tattered coat hung loose on the man’s body.
Iztlibckit.
“What?” Sierra rubbed her ears, asking him to repeat himself.
Iztlibckit.
She just stared at the little man in confusion.
Iztlibckit alghitzbib dur nal.
Dammit. What had she gotten herself into now?
Sierra didn’t have much longer to ponder that question, before the little man smacked her hard on the back of her head with his hand.
OUCH!
He walked around the pool, breathing in the fumes deeply.
It looked almost good enough to eat now. D-LISH-OOS.
Yum. Just a bit longer to simmer, let the seasonings seep in and voila.
Mmm Mmm Good…
Better get out the big spoon.
-
_The Slide
I lie down and die
I return to the same place
My pen, a blank pageI write down my distrust
My disappointments
Cutting pain deepI withdraw into myself
With few people
On which to dependThey make a promise
Then take it back
So just leave it aloneIt may not be meant
But every little bit
Kills me even moreIt’s just easier to hide
To be always alone
Be numb and not to feelThan to put trust in a person any more
I feel my mind slipping away
And know not whether to kill the sickness
Or just to stop caring.But I suppose the journey is the hardest part_
-
Reflections
~Journal~Yesterday…. I died. I really rather hate dying. It hurts quite a bit, not to mention you’re always left in some sort of awkward pose like your rear end sticking up in the air, or with your shirt half torn away, so that your juggies are just there hanging out for every perverted gnome and hin to see.
However, I was lucky in that this time, Kara wandered by eventually and found me, killing the two dozen or so wolves that had begun nibbling on my body by that time.
I must remember not to travel alone again.
Despite what I think my chances might be even when wielding two lollipops of doom.Later that day, Rolan told Kara, Mel and Me that he thought we were “plump”. This of course is not at all true, because I’m as thin and fit as ever, if not more so, with the exception of the unfortunate incident earlier. Either way, his words merited retaliation. Knowing Rolan, it wasn’t difficult to get him up to a room alone so that Mel, Kara and I could honey and feather him. He made a very… interesting…. Giant chicken man.
Sadly though, not everyone was amused by our practical joke when we marched Rolan out into the Jiyyd Square, for next you knew Star was there weapons drawn threatening to cut up someone. I think it may have been me, but later she ended up whooping some elven girl. I’m still very confused about what was going on actually, and why Star did that.
Even later, a naked gnome who’s been running around the town lately, trying to send out exploding targets to the orcs, appeared again. His latest target failed to make it to the orcs again, or so I think, but from the sounds of things, he’s got well over a thousand more to send out…. Frightening. I tried some sort of apple juice concoction he made, and Mel ate a lollipop that he had modified. The ultimate result was me being a Sierra-sickle and Mel turning into a faerie. No, really! A Faerie!
I was finally taller than her!
Ah well, eventually it wore off and things went back to normal. Good thing too….
I don’t even want to think about what would have happened the first time someone tried to stick their tongue to me.
-
Intermission
A gray recollection of being here
I’ll say it’s mist and hazy at best
Long to have walked the roads
Tiring, cold and longing for restUpon her return, her beloved Nico was less than thrilled to see her. Infact, his greetings could be summed up to have been rather cold, with him simply saying, “Good to see that you’re alright. So when are you leaving again?”
But Sierra guessed that she probably deserved that.
Sierra begged, pleaded, recited poetry, and even going so far as to wear a dress one day and tote about a mop, Nico only thawed slightly towards her.
While I come back to you, my friend
But something swallows me within
Days and hours pass, weeks, years
It would be so damn easy to give in.But, she kept at him. Some things were important enough that you never gave up, despite difficulties.
Meanwhile, the tattoo that they had scribed onto her upper right arm back in Thay, felt as though it was burrowing deeper and deeper. She even swore that the ink that was burned onto her skin, was spreading further up her arm, as if trying to drag its way over to her chest, and finally, her heart.
When things had once fit together
The edges are becoming frayed
Compellation to torture myself
Give me relief, my tired body badeShe always felt a fear within her. And it made her body tired.
And she felt her emotions going numb. It made her stomach sick.
Then there were times that her head hurt so much, that she couldn’t think.It was as though…something was eating her up, from the inside out. Just a small bit at a time.
I left behind and took a wander
Not missing what I did not see
Hard to grasp a remembered past
Wondering if you’ll know me–-----------------------
Somewhere else:
He stuck a finger in, swirling it around, and put it in his mouth, savoring the taste.
Mmm mmm….good.
Pick it up and eat with a spoon.
-
The Law of Effect: 6. Reversal
It hadn’t taken long before Sierra was caught by the city guards, and was taken to a dark and damp room in the jail.
She didn’t struggle when they grabbed her, and then knocked her out.
But now, she wish she had, Sierra thought to herself as a whip made a sickening snap on her back.
Ask for death, said a voice.
….No, she said in a whimper.
The whip snapped again.
Ask for death, or I’ll next break you bone by little bone.
…..she didn’t respond.
Again, the whip snapped.
The skin on her back hung off of her in fleshy ribbons, every thing else in her was wrapped in the pain. She couldn’t take it anymore, she knew it. The sleep death would bring would be void of the pain that gripped her senses now. She did so want to die, and all she had was to say the words…
Another snap of the whip, but she didn’t feel this one, all she felt was pain.
And the pain brought her sleep.
–-----
Fingertips nudged her broken body, a voice saying something in the background.
Go away she wanted to say, I’m sleeping.
More nudging.
“Wake up.”
Groaning softly, she lifted her head, her eyes blurred and cloudy.
“Who’re you?”
“That doesn’t matter. Hurry and get yourself up if you want to leave. Oooor.. You can just lay there, and wait for your torturer to come back with more toys with which to torture you with.”
Sierra tried to push herself up, falling back down immediately with a thud. Get up they said, I’d like them to try to get up if they were in my condition, she thought to herself. Another try, and then another, and then finally she got up off of the stone slab that she had been laid out on.
“Here, take this…” the figure said as it handed her a thick brown robe with a hood. “Put it on.”
Slowly, painfully, Sierra put the robe on as ordered.
“Who’re you?” Sierra asked again.
“Does it matter? You’re going to go home, back to Na…. Back to your home.”
Blinking, she tried again to clear her vision, but the figure became no clearer.
“Do I know you?”
The figure just stood still, at first, appearing not to have heard her question.“I said, do I kno-”
“……. No, you don’t know me,” came the reply, laced with an angry edge.
No more was said until they were far out of the city, until they were nearly to the borders that marked the end of Thayan lands. There, the figure told her in short, clear details, how to get past the border guards, and where to go, what to do, and what to say.
“Thank you..” she said, as the two parted.
Go home the figure had said.
She could barely think of what home had meant to her.
Home…
Nico.
Sierra began moving down the road, walking with her head bent, her eyes cast to the ground.
Never had she longed for home so much.
-
The Law of Effect: 5. Regret
Sometimes
Sometimes the body betrays the heart
And I let my feet carry me far away
Sometimes I let my mind take over
When everything else told me to staySometimes,
Just sometimes,
I don’t know what to do
Or what to say
When sometimes
I wish I did
And could take the pain awaySometimes I want to give it up
And I feel to tired to go on
Sometimes I want to forget it all
About how it felt to you to belongSometimes,
Just sometimes,
I’m not sure
If it’s right I stay
When sometimes
I remember
How I threw everything awayBut every day, every night
I’ll ask you to take me back
Take me with every flaw
Every perfection that I lackEvery minute, every hour
I swear I’ll never try to leave
Hoping that someday
You’ll listen to my words and believe
-
The Law of Effect: 4. Aggression
I wake up every morning
Knowing I’ve died the night beforeIt had been years by now.
Gods had been abandoned.
Hope had been lost.Not many people know
What it’s like to have died
The freedom in itThey did not treat half elves well in Thay, especially because of their relations with half elven Aglarond to the south, the land which they felt should be theirs by right of power, but always beyond their grasp. So she was lucky, to be in the position she was in. This is what she was told, by some of the men she was made to entertain.
She didn’t know what was worse really.
What they did to her, or that she had to listen to them drivel on.To tell that while a body walks
Talks
Lives and breathesMost important, she’d learned simply not to care.
Pain had become part of everyday life, when they used their knives to cut into her, while at the same time they defiled her body in other ways. Or when they burned her, all the while crying out their pleasure and glee.
It just didn’t matter anymore.
Of course, if she was still inclined to give her faith to anyone, she could assume that maybe it was partially because of the prayers the mistress made them all give at the house, at the Loviatarian altar before they were taken out, but she always laughed her way through those prayers internally, often changing some of the words around to make them much more amusing. She remembered that she used to do things like that a lot, and no one else ever noticed.
Whatever got her through the days.
The heart of the person
Who was born into a body
Once living but now deadAfter all, most of her had died years ago.
She had even made a little anniversary of it, the night when she was first killed, one that apparently the house mistress actually thought she celebrated, instead of damned. Granted, the house mistress was also a devout follower of Loviatar, so she didn’t see things in the same ways others did, and expected them to enjoy pain as much as she. Because of this “anniversary”, the house mistress had chosen her on this particular day, to be part of a special gift ordered by one of the more important men in the city. It was the son of the man’s birthday, and this man wanted to make the day, and more importantly the night especially memorable.
Trussed up as usual, to be made as attractive as possible, she was loaded into one of the nicest carts, and quickly transported to the house, where she was quickly shut into one of the bedrooms. There she would wait until the man was ready to unveil his gift to his son.
She always felt like this before what was bound to happen, happened.
Shame of betrayal.
Regret over all the decisions she made that lead her here.But sometimes the ghost of the day before
Reminding me of the days that belonged to youThen numbness, and apathy.
While waiting by the window, she heard a voice. Such a familiar voice, it cut through her, making her heart thaw and clench painfully. Then she heard the voice again, laughing.
And then a name.
Her own name, her real name.
Sierra.
_At my own hands
By my choiceI’ll know that I’ve died the night before
I know that I’ve survivedTo my ghost I say goodbye_
She didn’t remember snapping the son’s neck or any of the other things she did to him. Or leaving shortly after and walking back without her usual escort to make sure that she didn’t run away. But, she knew that she had done it, as though it had been told to her as an afterthought. She’d gone back to the house and collected her things before anyone seemed to have found out what had happened. The blood didn’t phase anyone, for it was not at all out of place, and for that, no one seemed to ask why there was so much of it.
Somehow, someway, she left.
She never even knew why.
_Yesterday was your day in my life
Today is mine_
Sierra went out for a walk.
-
The Law of Effect: 3. Remembrance
My gift to understanding is a scene
To illustrate heart’s demand
Stillness of dark shades of night
Giving restlessness to the idle handShe leaned against the wall of her cell, which was packed with the bodies of many others. Some living, some… not so living. But all bound either way for Thay. A place so close to where she had come from, but because of her situation, may as well be lost to her, for it seemed doubtful that she’d soon find a way to escape.
The trip left her many, many hours, to think about what had been, and what might have been. And who she had left behind.
She let her hope fall away, and wondered if she would really ever see him again.
Down the alley ways of no light
Something taken for granted, is unseen
A pair of lovers bound together
By silence, walking shadows inbetween…………
Nico took Sierra’s hands in his, for all the world to her seeming as loving and gentle as she liked to think him capable of being. And so he was, loving, gentle, understanding, and always kind… at least with her.
As they sat before the fire, he slowly and calmly finally told her what she’d been wanting to know for so long, but had always known somewhat instinctively.
And as much as she said it didn’t matter, it did.
Later that night, Sierra packed up her tools, her weapons and anything else she needed, and left to take a walk.
She just needed to think.
A dangerous taste, love of life's passion
sanctuaries unknown and not their own
Lady of life and Night companion seek
What they reap is what they have sown
-
The Law of Effect: 2. Consequences
You don't know how you got here
You just know you want outFibers pulled at the rawness of her skin, with the scents of blood, sweat, and other fluids trapped inside of the burlap bag that contained her. She tried to hold her breath for as long as she could, afraid that if she breathed in the acrid scents, she’d vomit, and be trapped with that smell as well.
Outside, she heard him. He was bartering with someone, periodically poking the bag, laughing, but all in a language that she couldn’t understand. She strained her ears and tried to concentrate, hoping that she could figure out what they were saying, but holding her breath finally got to her, and she sucked in a lung full of air and stench.
Gagging hard on her bile, she thankfully, passed out.
………………
Sometime later, perhaps days, maybe weeks, she woke up. Bandages were wrapped around her wounds, her hair cut, and washed. Things were feeling, and smelling, much better than she last remembered.
Some women came to talk to her, again, in the same strange language as before. She still didn’t understand though.
It didn’t take long though, to figure out even though she didn’t understand the language, that she had been sold by him, to someone else. She was now a slave.
Trying desperately to hold onto hope that somehow she’d find a way out of this, part of her nagged from within, whispering that this was punishment.
She just should have stayed put.
She should have never chased him.
She should have listened to her gut.Why can’t we ever be happy with what we’ve got?
Believing in yourself
Almost as much as you doubt
-
Law of Effect: 1. A History Lesson.
You don't know how you took it
You just know what you gotShe slowly came to, a pain rippling through her head. As she tried to move her hand to feel for bumps on her skull, she found that both her wrists and ankles had been tied.
She had left her future to get even with her past. To get even with the man who had cheated her all those years ago. Such a pursuit is always a gamble.
She had tried, and she had failed. Now it was time to pay up.
The door creaked open, and in he came. Cocky walk, smile on his face. Just like she remembered him. But his smile held a special sort of glee this time, a sick anticipation.
Circling around her, he ran his hands over her naked body, giggling in a high pitched octave.
Pausing, he laid to rest his hand on the top of her shoulder, and then slowly begin to glide it down, until he reached her fingertips.
“How lovely…” was what he said, as he began to bend each finger backwards, in unnatural form, one by one.
He was an artist. He didn’t begin simply by beating her. No, he worked up to that.
First her fingers
Then her hands
Her wrists….
He burned with fire
With ice…
Cut with glass…
And then left her alone for days
With no light
No sound.
Just complete …
Emptiness.
Eventually he got bored of making her cry though.
And she thought, “Good. Maybe he’ll just kill me now.”
…If I’m lucky…
Oh Lordy you've been stealing
from the thieves and you got caught
-
**The Simple Knight – A Tale of Many Parts
I**
I wish to tell you a tale, a very important tale, though all are,
For tales chart the passing events of life that run swiftly by.
So many stories of heroes, villains, grand nobles and peasants-
Some brimming with joy, some with tragedy to make you cry.What my tale is to be is quite up to you, the listener, but to be certain,
This tale begins with a simple boy, on a simple farm, simply farming.
Many tales begin this way, with the boy growing warrior tall and strong,
But with this simple boy, another soul he would not think of harming.Toiling away on his farm daily, year after year things were the same.
This boy, as simple as he may have been, did however, grandly dream.
Until one unusual day from over the mountains came a wondrous king,
And wise, for he knew things were not always as simple as they seem.“Of you I have a dangerous request,” said the wizened wondrous king,
Approaching the boy at his duties, the monarch looked him up and down.
“A journey of great adventure, and peril, requiring honor and duty,
To recover for me a rare, luminous jewel, to set in my golden crown.”Such a thing the boy had never thought would happen to him, he was sure.
But simple boy agreed, and packed his belongings and put his hoe away.
That night he kissed his mother on her cheek, and wiped at her sad tears,
In the morning he said farewell to his father, promising to return one day.
-
-A Study of the Bard-
_Sitting within a town’s walls
Does a true bard not make
Singing of other’s journeys
Sounds pleasant, but fakeFind the many tales that wait
Go out, walk the tired lands
Not simply read, but experience
Stories endless at your handsHands that grasp the blade
Scream into battle at the ready
Sculptor’s delicate hands
Hold your sword ever steadyHeart of a warrior driven
Hands of an artist inspired
Tongue of a tired poet
For telling tales of what transpiredKeepers of tales and song
Live lively, live well and long
Find many secrets, find your tales
Find your road and walk on_
-
-In the Legion-
(( To the tune of "In the Navy" as sung by the Village People. ))
_Where can you find your pleasure
Search the Nars for buried treasure
And blow up Gnomish technology
Where can you begin to
Wear nothing but black and blue
On your armor and facially
Where can you launch hins in the sky
Poke out an angry orc’s left eye
And not worry about giving an apology
You’ll run screaming from Bigby’s hand
Or be the last one in rank left to stand
When the sh*te hits the gnomish fan!In the Legion
Yes, You’ll eat nothing but lotsa peas
In the Legion
Yes, you’ll battle scary mutated bees!
In the Legion
They’ll make a man out of any Narfellian
In the Legion
Even the male elves, yes we can!
In the Legion
Come on protect the snow covered land
In the Legion
Drink as much dwarven ale as you can
In the Legion
Together we’ll protect Narfell land
In the Legion, in the LegionThey want you. They want you. They want you as a new recruit.
If you like adventure, don't you wait to enter
Their ranks are filling fast
If you like to hit things, with swords that clang
They're signing up front liners fast
You are never too weak so join up today
And don't you worry 'bout a thing
For I’m sure there will always be room for fodder
As long as you can heal, shoot or singIn the Legion
Yes, You’ll eat nothing but lotsa peas
In the Legion
Yes, you’ll battle scary mutated bees!
In the Legion
They’ll make a man out of any Narfellian
In the Legion
Even the male elves, yes we can!
In the Legion
Come on protect the snow covered land
In the Legion
Drink as much dwarven ale as you can
In the Legion
Together we’ll protect Narfell land
In the Legion, in the LegionThey want you.
They want you.
They want you as a new recruit.They want you.
They want you.
They want you as a new recruit.But, but, but I'm afraid of the pain.
Hey, hey look man, I have no sense of aim(They want you) oh my goodness
(They want you) What am I gonna do against a war machine?They want you.
They want you, In the Legion_
-
_For my love, Nico
Upon the occassion
-A Darker Shade of Night-
My gift to understanding is a scene
To illustrate what is a heart's demand
Stillness of darker shades of night
Giving restlessness to the idle handWaiting for the sign of purpose
Lady of life and secrets contained
Afraid to admit her desire, her want
Fantasies of mischief well restrainedThen comes along a companion
Someone to show her the way
Down to a darker shade of night
From set path she goes astrayDown the alley ways of no light
Something taken for granted, is unseen
A pair of lovers bound together
By silence, walking shadows inbetweenA dangerous taste, love of life's passion
sanctuaries unknown and not their own
Lady of life and Night companion seek
What they reap is what they have sownTogether they find
A darker shade of night
One of thier very own_
-
_Despite the initial roughness in our association, Nico and I worked together pretty well. Where as he was one to take times to consider things, I was impulsive. He could play the games of politics, but I simply wanted to get things done. I may have not been the most effective of employees, but it didn’t matter. It was obvious even to me that Nico mostly kept me around if only because I amused him, and he was a man who didn’t have much to make him really laugh or smile- and it wasn’t something he could buy either.
And at first, he tried his best to buy me.
At first, he gave me a new set of leathers and an armored harness to “protect me while I was on the job”. I accepted them, merely because I assumed that it was exactly that, and something that was extended to any one of his employees. Then he brought to me a new bow. It was finely made, and of much higher quality than I had seen or owned before, but I refused. Yet he insisted. “It’s for the job. It doesn’t do to have my employees dying because they’re ill equipped to handle the risks” he said.
So I began asking him about his wife.
Nico didn’t seem to want to talk about his wife much, and I had found earlier that it was a sure fire way of changing the subject. He always withdrew from me whenever I asked, making replies such as, “That’s my private life, and I prefer to keep it private,” or, “The state of my relationship with my wife is between me and her.” I hated to do that to him, but it was a good way of putting him off from giving me things.
But eventually, he would without a doubt try again. I ended up taking the bow one day when he said that it was my payment for services rendered that week. And he still persisted even after that, trying to give me anything he thought I’d like, but I became stronger at saying no, or so I thought….
I sat on the docks one day, locked deep in thought about my life so far. I had tried to be a good person, but I had trouble being that person. I felt horrible guilt. Not because I was doing bad things- but because I did what was necessary, and felt no remorse for doing so when others would have.
I knew that I had developed feeling for Nico. And I knew he had a wife. I also knew what I was about to do, and felt no sorrow for what his wife would feel. All I could think about was when, just after Nico told me he was married that a voice whispered in my head:
“You meet the man who was meant for you, and find you’ve dawdled. You finally arrived, only to find you’re five minutes too late.”
I knew that I couldn’t allow it to be too late, not without giving it a last shot.
Just about to go tie up my loose ends with Nate, I turned around to trip over something- a mace of exquisite design and enchantment. I knew that somehow, Nico must have left it behind me while I was lost in my thoughts, and seeing it there, instead of making me happy simply angered me. Nico would try to handle me by buying me, and prove I was fatally flawed. Anything that could be bought was cheap, and easily forgotten.
When I found him, I did so with the intent of informing him that without a doubt I was not cheap, easy, or forgettable. He merely looked at me with one of his rare grins, telling me that he had never seen the mace in his life, and then suggested that I accept it as a gift from Finder Wyvernspur, my god.
He found the one way I couldn’t possibly refuse.
I was touched that he’d gone through such effort, and conceded. From then on, things went increasingly better every day. I was preparing to break things off with Nate as soon as I could think of a good way how, and Nico was smiling and laughing more.
Then one evening, he stopped laughing. He nearly died, and I found myself in Jail._
-
_The entire trip I was miserable. Either I was being threatened by dwarves, ordered around, being shot at, or worse. But, once we arrived to our destination, I was allowed to sit in on the negotiations for the exchange of goods- which was the purpose of our trip I came to find out. While I listened to the prattle and verbal dance that was bartering, I almost had to smile at how well Nico played the game of reaching the most profitable agreement. He was really good at what he did, there was no denying it. But at the same time, it made me hate him more that I wanted to like the man who had just treated me like some sort of street urchin.
Finally the negotiations were closed, the bargain struck, and we on our way home. In the highs of the deal just made, everyone was nicer to me on the return trip, Nico included. And I began to wait for something.
That something didn’t take long, as when we arrived back to Peltarch, Nico invited me for dinner. While he’ll still claim to anyone that asks, he simply felt sorry for me, if you really ever got to know Nico you’d know that’s a line and nothing with him is really all that simple anyways. But anyways, he didn’t take me to anywhere nice. He took me to the Pissing Goat Tavern, a dive where the scum of the city college and congeal together.
Though a Senator, and a member of the wealthy classes of the city, he truly seemed more comfortable there than he had anywhere else. He was very charming the entire time, and seemed to suppress a smile during our conversation- as though if it broke out, whatever play acting he was doing as the intimidating and smooth merchant would fail.
During the dinner, Nico offered me a job. He had been told that I had a knack for trouble, and usually coming out in one piece in the end. And in addition, after all the pains he put me through on the trip, he was impressed that I stuck with it, didn’t give up, and perhaps most of all, didn’t follow through with my fantasy of “accidentally” shooting him in the eye.
For some reason, I began to think about Nate. I knew he was somewhere out in the city waiting for me, with his fair smile, warmth and goodness. He was something I could never be, never aspire to, never touch. To even think about it was painful.
Time stilled for a moment, as if to say, “Pay attention, this is when everything can change…”
I felt this run through me, and even almost a tiny glimmer of the pain I would be apart of causing, but how miniscule it compared with a something else that was unknown. It was a mystery that had not yet declared it’s out come, whether it was good or bad, but only that the journey would be something defining.
With only a brief moment’s hesitation, I took the job._
-
_While some people may have theories of how and why I came to be with Nico Black, and I’ve told many versions of how it happened, usually these stories are only partial truths. I could say that it wasn’t physical, or that it was love at first sight, or something much more romantic than it really was. But it wasn’t really romantic, at least in my opinion. In actuality, it was really a series of really wrong decisions and lack of conscience on both our parts that just somehow ended with a result that perhaps he and I both do not deserve.
However, it has always been my theory that is why Nico and I fit so well together. We’re not good people, but nor are we bad people. Sometimes we do the right things, and sometimes we do the wrong things. And a lot of times, we don’t care nor take into how others might feel about our actions along the way to a goal.
Nico and I probably wouldn’t have ever met if it hadn’t been for a man whom I was tentatively seeing at the time, Nate Wingates.
When I initially met Nate, I found his peppiness to be very charming and uplifting. That was important to me at the time, since I was strongly considering killing myself rather than live out Finder’s Curse (which is a whole other story all in itself). But what really made him romantically attractive to me was finding out he was being controlled by someone else through a spell. Setting myself on the task of helping him break the spell gave me purpose and I found that more than anything to be exhilarating.
Following the breaking of said spell, I found myself steadily growing irritated with Nate. There’s just only so much “whimsical” and cheerfulness one can take. Not to mention Nate was really good, and really nice. After I tried for a while to get him to do something daring and exciting, I came to the conclusion that he was at heart, a goody goody through and through. We didn’t suit as well as I thought we once had, and admittedly I was looking for a way out.
Here is where the irony begins.
One day, I received a note stuck under my door with some such thing about how I had “won a dinner with Nico Black”. I didn’t know who he was at the time, nor did I care. But, I did care that someone was leaving notes under my doorway, and I wanted to know why. The best lead I had obviously was to find this Nico Black and ask if he knew anything about it.
So, I ran around the city trying to track this man down. Finally one of the guards tell me that he’s near the docks, preparing to board a boat. Upon arriving at the docks, I find the ship he is supposed to be on, but yet no one is there. I search below decks in the hold, and still yet, no one is there. I then decided to give up on my search, and my hand begins to turn the handle on the hold door. Only to find it locked. Finally, some hours later I was let out of the hold, to face an angry man with the oddest haircut and choice of facial hair I had ever seen. I almost felt like asking him if he knew that mutton chops ceased to be fashionable sometime in the last century, but considering my position at the time, I thought it best to stay quiet on that subject.
However, one thing was very apparent. Nico Black, the man with the muttonchops, had taken an immediate dislike to me on first sight. Almost immediately, he began yelling at me and screaming, asking who I was spying for, what I was doing on the ship…All sorts of things. I kept wondering why he even bothered asking me, seeing as how he had decided I was some sort of spy.
The very next thing I knew, I had a mop thrust into my hand and I was told to begin mopping the deck, or begin my swim back to Peltarch. Though I am a very good swimmer, I assumed that mopping wouldn’t be so bad, but in hindsight, I sometimes wonder if I shouldn’t have just taken my chances with the Icelake._
