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Post by Nishikienrai on May 29, 2021 2:46:40 GMT 1
Before the beginning
Darkness all around. No sensual input whatsoever. His thoughts drift to his last, big fragment of memory. A memory of war, a memory of death.
Loud voices, magic spells and swung weapons and sharpened limbs everywhere. It was the war for the world. CHAOS had finally launched a full invasion into Faeo, and it would not leave until it had scoured the world from every trace of life. He was just a soldier, a mage of some capacity even. He had trained for years, he had fought countless monsters; alive, undead..and even some human ones too. But nothing could prepare one for this fight of ultimate survival. He fought Gungl and Engus, leaving the officers and elite enemies to more capable warriors and mages. He fought until his mana reserves had dried up and he had run out of mana potions, he fought with magic until he could no longer. He fought until his bluffs and blessings had run out. He fought until he had no more health potions, he fought until his belt was empty. In the end, it was an Engu Imperator that brought his low. After he and his comrade in arms sliced open the beast, it's vile innards spewed forth and engulfed them. Pain, sharp and intense, rushed through his whole body, for the corrosive intestines started to eat away everything. First his skin, then his muscles and flesh, then his bones. It even ate away some of his soul, his very essence.
Later
In the end, the united force of humans and magmars was able to drive away CHAOS, vanquishing the threat for at least 100 years. But the price the living had to pay was steep: nearly two out of three combatants had been slain. The surviving forces rallied around their respective leaders. Already you could see that some started to think about future battles, the old race war, again. So much for the peace we agreed upon, he thought. He had stayed near the battlefield, lingering, for his wound spirit could not move on. He had seen the outcome. Was his destiny now to see over the blood drenched battlefield for eternity?
[...]
"There is another spirit, oh great Goddess!" he heard a familiar voice exclaim. Erifarius, white dragon, protector of the human race, hovered into his view. "Heh, Striagorn, I think this is one of yours." Now the other dragon, Striagorn, black dragon, protector of the magmar race, came around too. "Are you sure, brother? This one doesn't look like...anything whole at all anymore." said the black dragon. The white dragon took a long and deep sniff. "Yes, brother. He is not of my protegees." Both dragons settled down near the place, where his soul hovered, suspended in agony. "Scheara will know what to do." they both concluded uniformly. Shortly after, a bright shine descended upon them. Scheara, the dragon goddess, last of the remaining gods, joined them. "This one is indeed damaged beyond all healing. If we had found him earlier, there could have been made an effort. As he is now, he cannot re-enter a magmar body and resurrect anymore." she said. Striagorn, reluctant to let one of his charges go, asked "But mistress, what about the Deliverance Thurible? Can such an artifact not restore his soul again, so he can fight another day?" -"No, Striagorn, this would not work. As I stated, his soul is beyond repair. His fights in Faeo are over." "Goddess Scheara, I do not wish to call you a liar, but I do not feel like my fighting days are over." he said. The goddess laughed, amused that the mortal defied her assessment. "What shall we do with you, then? You cannot resurrect in Faeo anymore. Do you wish to linger in this form, for eternity?" -"No, but you said <here in Faeo>. Does this imply, that I could ressurect...somewhere else?" The dragons grew uneasy upon hearing this question. The goddess tilted her head, seemingly deep in thought. "No, you cannot resurrect in any sphere I know. But, you could be reborn. Stop, do not rush this decision! Be aware that you will leave behind all your friends and family, your clan, your abilities and prowess, your titles and possessions. Everything. Will. Be. Left. Behind. And there will be no turning back once I break what anchors your spirit in this sphere of existence. Think about it." "My goddess, if I cannot resurrect anymore, if I cannot see my friends again...I am dead now. Truly dead. It does hurt to leave behind my loved ones, but as you said, there is no way. So I shall go a new one." "If that is how you truly feel, then so be it. I hope your next life treats you to a less soon and gruesome demise, than your life in Faeo." the goddess said, reaching into Striagorn's being and tore out a tiny, glowing, red bead. Scheara squashed the bead between her right thumb and index finger, then blew the dust on where his soul was floating.
After that...darkness surrounded him. The feeling of vertigo, of falling. So never ending long...
He is not sure whether he is still dreaming or awake. He only knows his memories, and he feels no pain anymore. How long had he lingered in this state? He would not know. Well, never ending darkness or never ending pain; my choice would be the former rather than the latter, he thought.
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Post by Nishikienrai on May 29, 2021 3:25:36 GMT 1
Wake-y wake-y
He did not know how much time had passed. It could have been a second, it could have been a thousand years. He still thought of himself as who he had been in his last memory, a warrior-mage of the magmar race from Faeo. But how he had looked like, he could not remember. Was this the price, he had to pay for a rebirth?
[...]
At one point he started to notice a few things. First, there was a general feeling of warmth. Of some semi solid beneath his back. Sometimes, a bit of cold would come to his lower left body, but quickly go away again to be replaced by warmth. The coldness was wet. He started to notice the smell of salt in the air. No doubt, he was near the sea, or an ocean. But he was still surrounded by darkness and he felt weak. He could not even lift up his arms.
[...]
"Ey lad, what are you doing down there" a voice said. "Wait, I will drag you out of the water."
A feeling of being dragged across the floor. Still darkness around him, and he also was not able to open his mouth to reply. "You dead, lad?" the voice asked. He felt something on his chest. "Nah, you are still alive. So wake the fuck up, or is this some <we play dead today> game, eh?" Pain erupted around his eyes, a tearing sensation, then...light. Which caused him even more pain, as it felt like he had been an eternity in the darkness, so the light seemed only brighter in comparison.
"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm" was all he could manage, for his mouth was still -unlike his eyes now- still covered shut with salt. "Yeah, thought so as well" said the voice. "Lemme give you a little something to regain a bit of strength. If the eyes were anything to go by, this gonna hurt like a bitch as well." Another tearing sensation could be felt. After that, something was shoved into his mouth. "I hope, that Asky gave me the good stuff..."
The fluid running down his throat did not taste like anything, but it did its job anyways. After a few minutes, he regained a bit of strength. He tried to move, but it was exhausting, so very exhausting. "Where am I? And what is the name of the one who has saved me?" he rasped, his voice still recovering from not being used for so long. "Did a stick lodge itself into your arse, lad? You talk quite funny" said the voice, amused. Slowly, he could see someone like a human, but wider and smaller and with a lot more beard than the humans he remembered from...from where exactly? His last, big memory fragment had started to fade. As he tried to remember it again, it started to erode even faster, until only the barest hints remained. "You are on the beautiful island of Agonia, in the middle of frigging nowhere. And my name is Balin. What's yours, lad?" the small human.
"Why do you call me lad? My name is...I don't really remember it, but...Gosgosh seems right", he said. "I call you a lad, because you are one of my tribe", said Balin. "Surely not, I do not know what I had been before, but I cannot remember being a small human", Gosgosh said. Balin looked at Gosgosh in a concerned way. "You hit your head quite heavily when you were in the ocean, eh? Dwarr is what we are, you better remember it next time. Can you walk?" Gosgosh hesitated. "I...I am not sure. Everything seems so tedious, every motion exhausts me a lot." Balin noded. "You need a good steak, lad, and a grilled corn. Come, the capital isn't far off, I will take you there."
After dropping Gosgosh off, Balin went his own way. But though Gosgosh had his fill of food and drink, the energy did not seem to come back that easily...
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Post by Nishikienrai on Jun 6, 2021 21:47:50 GMT 1
The Tale of Gosgosh, Part 1
Even after thorough examination of New Haven's best healers and priest, the manner of Gosgosh's inability to do anything without being exhausted immediately, remained a mystery. It was not, that he would not eat well, or sleep well, or did normal physical activites, no. He was just...slow due to being exhausted all the time. This would not have been a problem, if it were not meaning that he could not keep pace with the others. This, this never felt right for Gosgosh. He knew, that this was not how it was meant to be, how it was supposed to be. Though how he knew that, he would never be able to tell as the memories of his old life in Faeo had started to vanish the moment he consciously arrived on the island which is called Agonia.
Gosgosh dreamt about being able to travel the whole world, with axe and hammer in hand as he had found a lot of love for those tools. He dreamt of being a traveling smith, with a mobile forge. But the warriors at his side talked him out of it. "Too dangerous", they said. "Without the badge of our faction, the wilderness will not be so safe if you encounter one of our enemy, the forsaken...and about the wild and fast beasts roaming these lands, well, we do not really mention those, right?" He never really understood why the first part would be his personal problem. It was not like he had caused any animosity with his arrival. Should the point where he had washed ashore on Agonia be the only reason why a lot of people wanted to kill him? Not the best of places to wash ashore, for sure, he thought. So Gosgosh gave up on being a traveling blacksmith, but he never gave up on his dream of traveling the world, free. A dream worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for.
He traveled, but he did so with the rather confined spaces of the north western corner of the island, if the maps were to be believed. He did kill many a spider and lizard, and though his arms grew stronger each time he slew an enemy, his ability to move quickly did not improve. Gosgosh just had to live with that and make the best out of it, even if it meant that he never would be able to travel to the really dangerous areas. But he did not care about this, not really. He only wanted to grow strong enough to mine the rare ores and turn them into ingots first and then tools, both for war and peace.
On one of his tours for the biologist Rwandi, Gosgosh found himself near the lava wastes west of the Watchtower. Again, he had been warned about this area specifically, but Gosgosh saw no harm in taking a short look. When he stepped up near the lava however, 2 lava crawler quickly emerged from the molten stone and viciously attacked him. He desperately tried to get away, but the monsters were relentless in their pursuit, and Gosgosh was neither able to best them in combat, nor get away in one piece. "This is it now" he thought. However, it was not it, or whatever he thought it would be. His last cry of pain, from the blow that struck him down, would not simply end. Darkness, a sensation of moving at the speed of light, no even faster. And then: he woke up, still screaming. He was back in New Haven. The room he was in seemed familiar. Yes, he had been here, or in a room similar to this when the priests and healers had examined him. He noticed that he was still screaming, so he stopped that. A priestess, Daishu, rushed in. "Are you well, child?" she asked. "I think I just died. Or I dreamt that I was dying" said Gosgosh. "Ah, first time, then."
This confused Gosgosh a bit. Was not death supposed to be an end? It was, and it was not, he felt. The sense of a déjà-vu overcame him, but the memory of how he came to Agonia was still eluding him. The priestess told him, that another warrior would most likely help him retrieve his gear and slay the monsters, so Gosgosh set out to get back what was his by right. Though when he came back, someone had already cleared the pile and left the gear with a note. Overcome with relieve to have his trusty axe and hammer back, Gosgosh set out again after vowing to never step close to any field of lava ever again.
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Post by Nishikienrai on Jun 6, 2021 22:44:51 GMT 1
How to not get *boned*
One day during his travels, Gosgosh felt a massive quake running through the ground. Shortly thereafter, he received a bat from the council of elders, warning him and every other living thinking creature, that the undead had arisen. A threat unlike any other, they would fight and kill until everyone was dead, and stayed dead.
Gosgosh rushed back to the Quiet's Watchtower, for their town had become like a home to him. He secured his crafting tools, and then geared for war. For even someone like him could make a change, in stopping the undead horde...or so he thought. He assembled with another troop of Order warriors at the Eye, and they marched south east through the forrest, wary of any group of undead that could come their way. The forrest, usually loud and humid, felt rather quietly and dry that day. Everyone was on the lookout for any undead, at all times, everyone was tense for the warning of the elders surely must be taken seriously. Then, a flash of white in the distance: they had found the undead, lumbering around and on the mountain that has always been home to the pteranodon dinosaurs. While the others quickly moved in to meat the foes in battle, Gosgosh brought up the rear. He did manage to get a few hits in, but the others were way too fast and so he never got a killing blow in at the first cleansing of ptera mountain. That night, the group slept on the mountain, but their rest was disturbed multiple times, because the undead rushed them with a fury that was not from this world. The group lost a few fighters in melees in the dark, but Gosgosh managed to evade dying that night because he was one of the lookout, who did not sleep at all.
Fighting the undead came with uncomfortable thoughts for Gosgosh. Even though the undead attacked viciously and without mercy, they were rather slow. Yes, they would never stop moving until you crushed their head, but they were not quick...just like he himself was not. Gosgosh did not like what this could mean. So he sat there, awake and brooding until the sun rose again and the group prepared to move out, south and a bit east bound.
The group encountered a few more small bands of undead, but the real trouble began once they emerged from the sea of green: the desert south of the great forrest was crawling, swarming with groups of undead. Some groups were small, just a handful of skeleton soldiers. Others had necromancers, captains and even some giant skeletons could be seen. They got word, that other groups with mighty warriors, were nearby and so they started to cleanse, to smash and bash until it would all be done.
However, Gosgosh soon realized that he only was able to fight soldiers and archers on somewhat equal footing. Every "higher" skeleton would quickly outmatch him. Still wary of his first death experience, he was not keen to repeat the sensation; so when he nearly came to death's door step again after a coven of skeleton mages decided that it was Gosgosh's turn to become a BBQ. With only a sliver of health remaining, he was able to flee, but when he wanted to jump back into the fray the other warriors told him that it would be ok if he left north-west bound, to safety.
Ashamed that his contribution was not even needed, and that he should become a coward just so to not feel inconvenienced, Gosgosh set out north-west...but soon stopped in his tracks. There was something behind him. He slowly turned around, expecting a monster or a skeleton, but there was nothing. Just a mountain, looming over some forrest in the distance. A river springs from that mountain, and behind it, Gosgosh was told, was a field of death. Not a graveyard. THE Graveyard. Apparently some warriors had tried traveling this area some time ago, and they all died. Every last one of them did. The sight of that mountain sent a shiver down Gosgosh's spine, but he was also filled with a feeling of foreboding. He had the feeling that he would come back to this place. Never would he have know both how wrong and correct he would be.
So Gosgosh moved north-west, soon finding more warriors of the Order marching up at the edge of the desert, waiting to charge into the fray as well. While passing them, Gosgosh briefed them on the situation, and vowed to hunt anything that came through the ever tighter growing net the other Order warriors were creating.
And hunting stragglers he did. Most were just smaller bands of normal skeleton soldiers and archers, but he felt better knowing that he did not just ran away from a fight, but made himself useful even if it meant limping after some shambling bones. In the end, the fight was decided by warriors far superior to him. He did what cleaning he could do, then he returned to what he had done before the undead menace reared its ugly head.
But still, even though he avoided the weird dying-but-then-again-not-really-dying sensation, doubts began to crawl into Gosgosh's mind, and his dreams were different, darker than before...
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Post by Nishikienrai on Jun 7, 2021 0:52:33 GMT 1
The Tale of Gosgosh, Part 2
After the land had become quiet again, Gosgosh went back to crafting and fighting monsters. However, one day he was approached by Rwandi again, who requested more intel on monster species. Unable to turn down the friendly biologist who had tried helping him in the past, Gosgosh set out again. His fellows told him, that one of the monsters Rwandi asked about, would be deep in the south, so he traveled there first. He crossed wide plains, then a high mountain and lastly a desert to finally reach the nesting grounds of the pegomastax, the creature Rwandi wanted to know more about. Though they were quite agile, Gosgosh still managed to gather enough intel on them, though some wild hyenas did try to disrupt his research. Everything seemed to go smoothly.
However, on his way back, he came upon a forrest in the mountains, filled with mist and exotic noises. Gosgosh let his guard down and marched into to forrest, the exploring loving spirit within him enraptured by nature's beauty. Which was why he did not notice the 1500 pound Silverback Gorilla until the beast breathed right down his neck. Gosgosh managed to wound the gorilla, but in turn got turned into red paste....and woke up screaming in a medical room. The priestess Daishu entered the room quickly, looking who was causing a commotion in her halls of healing. "You again? This again?" she asked, with an eyebrow raised. Gosgosh closed his mouth. Surprisingly, this did down the external volume, but internally a wordless scream, a sense of dread and that something was terrible wrong still continued to go on unabated. Dying and coming back? It did feel normal. It did feel absolutely wrong. It felt like he had done that already, but Gosgosh could not remember when and where. When he traveled back south, this time strong and confident enough that he could finish the gorilla himself, he thought about that. It must have been some connection to what happened prior to his awakening in Agonia, he thought. He noticed, that while he still felt the same excruciating exhaustion from any movements, that he could move faster now. Still, the scream continued in his head, not so loud anymore but like a nagging background noise. Like a really annoying case of tinnitus, like an itch you cannot scratch. I have to do something about this rather sooner than later, he thought.
With his newfound strength he was able to slay the Silverback Gorilla, retrieve his gear and be able to go back to hunting down the rest of monsters for Rwandi. All the while, the scream still persisted. Gosgosh had hoped, that slaying the cause of his second death would silence it, but his hopes were not fulfilled. On his way back to the capital, Gosgosh decided to seriously prioritize solving that problem. But when he handed over the data, Hojeen barged in. Apparently there was a deadly fever, a plague, currently in New Haven and Hojeen needed someone to get the cure from a wise woman who lived in the forrest near a lake. Two birds with one stone, thought Gosgosh, she might help me with that screaming in my head.
He met the woman, Agatha, right where Hojeen said she would be. Lucky for Gosgosh and the sick in New Haven, Agatha was able to quickly brew the cure for the fever, for she knew of this sickness and how to effectively destroy the cause of it. While she brewed, Gosgosh told her about his seemingly always exhausted body and how "death" affected it, as well as the scream he was still hearing.
Agatha frowned, and tilted her head. "Young dwarr, I have heard of this phenomenon, but I fear that you will not like the cure. Yes, I know the remedy for your ills, but I shall not speak of it, no matter how loudly you will protest now. What I can do however, is showing you the way to the one who can give said remedy to you. Do not thank me, young dwarr, you will soon know why, soon enough." She coughed, but it could have been a weirdly hidden cackle as well. "Do you believe in Gods and Devils, young one? If not, you better start soon to do so. Let it be known, that I wish no ill upon you, but this sickness plaguing you is quite serious and for some illnesses, the remedy will be just as bitter a pill to swallow as continuing living with said illness." She cough-cackles again, but this time Gosgosh could feel a deep sorrow and pity emanate from the old woman. "Stand atop the mountain, south-west of the capital. There, you shall prepare a sacrifice made out of < INGREDIENTS REDACTED > and then shout the incantation < INCANTATION REMOVED > until someone answers your summons. Good luck, in this live or the next one, farewell."
Gosgosh was confused, but if it meant helping curing his status, he would go any length to do so. He brought the cauldron with the remedy Agatha had brewed back to the capital and handed it over to Hojeen, before he traveled to the Watchtower. He began the long preparations for the ritual that Agatha had described. What he did not take with him, he left in the town hall, forfeiting his every possessions and took only with him what he needed for the ritual, plus his trusty axe. Agatha had not said that he should refrain from bringing it, and her words made Gosgosh wary of what might happen. If he really were to die (again), he would do so with a weapon in his hand even if he were to be otherwise completly naked.
As instructed, Gosgosh traveled to the high mountain peak south west of New Haven, and prepared the ritual...
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Post by Nishikienrai on Jun 7, 2021 1:34:18 GMT 1
The Tale of Gosgosh, Final...
Gosgosh had forgotten how long he had shouted the incantation. He tried to keep his mouth from drying out by drinking water, but it would soon become dry as before again. How many days did he do this already? Gosgosh did not know, but surely it must have three days and nights already.
He would not stop. He could not stop. He felt, that he was close, this close, just a bit more. Just a bit longer...
Gosgosh collapsed, throat hoarse and unable to let out any proper word, after seven days and seven nights. He felt the live leaving him, again. "Have I been tricked? Did Agatha deceive me?!?" Were Gosgosh's last thoughts, before the endless darkness devoured him. This time, he did not wake up screaming in a hospital. Which was, in his books, a small improvement to his previous deaths. So something worked, at least.
---------------------------------------------------
"Mortal one with the disfigured soul, finally we meet. I thought you would never die. Impressive lung volume." said a deep, rasping voice. Two glowing golden eyes muster Gosgosh. He feels another strong déjà-vu, the golden eyes, a voice so deep it makes his head vibrate...where had he encountered this before? Where?! And why did the voice call his soul disfigured?
Gosgosh tried to look down. What he saw made his heart skip a beat: his body was both see-through and his left half was heavily disfigured, as if someone had taken acid and poured it all over that half. His left leg seemed to have vanished below the knee joint, though even that seemed to already have healed a bit.
"Yes, this was the reason why you always felt exhausted, mortal. Something in your past life, the means by which you died, must have damaged your soul in the process as well."
It suddenly came rushing back, all the memories from Faeo, from his last fight with the Engu and how he died there.
"No, mortal, before you ask: you will never truly heal. I can sense that you finally unlocked your previous life's memories, so you know better than I what caused you to be in this state. Yes, you will heal little by little if you die more often, but even if you regain your ability to move quickly, you will never leave behind the exhaustion. That is the curse laid upon you."
"I do not know who you are..." Gosgosh started.
"Nor is it important, really" came the retort. "But this here is important: you did the ritual. You spoke the incantation. I know what you want. Are you prepared to pay the price -any price that is- for that? Will you settle with whatever needs to happen so that you do not feel the terrible exhaustion ever again?"
"What is your price, then? Name it!"
The golden eyes glitter amused. "To leave behind the exhaustion means leaving behind your being. A soul cannot regenerate everything, but with a few snips here and there, we will make do. Your frame will become smaller..."
"Even smaller as it already is?" exclaimed Gosgosh. "I have already been shrunk from the form I had in Faeo."
"Ah, Faeo. There is your origin. Interesting, most interesting. Did Talaar send you, by any chance?" Gosgosh could feel the curiosity that seeped out where the voice seemed to come from.
"No, the destroyer god is long gone, only his madness lingers in the temples build in His name." said Gosgosh, remembering his birth world Faeo. "It was Sheara who sent me to this sphere."
The voice shuckles. "His madness, indeed. Now, mortal. Besides your *weight and height* loss, you need to prepare to completely die. What I mean is that the new soul can only be born into a new body, is when you let go of all that is your past life. You cannot heal, in body and mind if you do not leave Faeo completely behind. Yes, that will mean, that you -as a being- will stop to exist. The remade soul, which will be able to slip into a new body, will not remember anything from outside this sphere, Agonia. Are you prepared to lose everything that made you, to become a new you, mortal?"
Gosgosh thought long and hard about it, then he proclaimed: "Yes, yes I am prepared. I do not wish to live that way in Agonia. Faeo is unreachable for me, and like an extra limb, which drags me down, so I shall cut off my past. But tell me, who are you and what will be the price for getting your help?"
Now the golden eyes shine with a bright amusement and malice. "My name, you do not need to know that. That I am able to help you is everything you need to know and by sacrificing your old self, I will get my share. Do not worry or otherwise concern yourself with that anymore."
Gosgosh tilts his head slightly, questioningly. "So, how will this hap..."
"Easy as this" Gosgosh hears a clap, like two massive hands creating a thunderboom, and then he falls in darkness...
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Post by Nishikienrai on Jun 7, 2021 1:53:55 GMT 1
Wake-y Wake-y part 2: Agonian boogaloo
Darkness surrounded him. Hey that's a new one, he thought. His thoughts come and go, he is drifting, in more than one sense.
At one point he started to notice a few things. First, there was a general feeling of warmth. Of some semi solid beneath his back. Sometimes, a bit of cold would come to his lower left body, but quickly go away again to be replaced by warmth.
The coldness was wet.
He started to notice the smell of salt in the air. No doubt, he was near the sea, or an ocean. But he was still surrounded by darkness and he felt growing stronger with each second. He tried to open his eyes, but it seems that something is keeping them shut. He reaches up, and removes the salt crust himself.
He sits up, and notices two warriors standing next to him. One a dwarr, the other a kiith. The kiith was about to reach out to him, but apparently he had been quicker and his sudden movements had surprised the two.
"Oh hey there, Balin and Wollie. Good to see both of you again" he said. Wollie and Balin frown. "Do we know you, lad?" asked Balin, then "Who are you? Why do you know our names? Are you a forsaken spy?" while he slowly draws his axe. He ignored Balins questions and asked a counter question: "have you been growing since last time we met, Balin?" "The fuck are you on about?! Your name and purpose, or your thieving small lightfoot head is kissing the sand without a body attached to it!" He stopped, wondering. "A lightfoot? Am I a lightfoot? It seems like I shrunk, but I thought I would still be a dwarr..." Wollie intervened before Balin can fully draw his axe and lob the head off of the lightfoot who sits on the sand. "Wait, Balin. This is not the first one to be confused upon arrival. Remember, only we first ones came by ship. Who knows what knocked their senses out while they were on the ocean?" "Pah!" said Balin, putting his axe back. "Don't say I didn't warn ya, if he bites your ankles!" Balin turns around and marched away.
The lightfoot turns to Wollie after a while. "You knew me once as Gosgosh, the dwarr, but I left behind that life and am someone new now." said the lightfoot, who was not Gosgosh anymore. Wollie frowned again, "How did this happen? One cannot simply change their race, it is against nature." The lightfoot starts to say "Well, wadddaya know, there is this ritua..." but he is cut short by a lightning strike, hitting the sand between his outstretched legs. The lightfoot looks up. "Ok then, let us keep that a secret. Important is only, that I am me now, that I am not Gosgosh anymore and thus not as slow and exhausted as he was."
Wollie asked "If you are not Gosgosh anymore, who are you then?"
"I think Nishikienrai will do" said Nishikienrai. "Or Nishi for short." "I was about to say <bless you>" laughed Wollie, and they both marched towards New Haven, in the footsteps that Balin had already carved in the sands.
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Post by Nishikienrai on Jun 7, 2021 4:54:40 GMT 1
The Tales of Nishiki Enrai, the crazy Lightfoot
The first thing Nishi did after visiting New Haven, was to gear up again at the Watchtower. Though a bit dusty, the gear of his predecessor was still intact and working, and Nishi claimed what was rightfully his. The second thing Nishi did, was travel back into the forrest, to visit Agathe again.
Agathe did not recognize him immediately, but she said that she could feel his aura, and that he still felt the same, in a certain way. When Nishi tried asking who that ritual was supposed to call forth, Agathe quickly shushed him. With a smile, she pointed at the ceiling, which Nishi only now noticed was entirely made out of stone. "I do not wish to discuss the matter of the ritual. My roof might be made out of stone, but I do not like to take any chances. You got the help you wanted, yes? Then leave it at that, and leave some mystery, a mystery." Nishi left, none the wiser about what he had actually done, but he was happy that he could do now whatever he wanted to do with his life. And though the voice had said that everything besides his first life's memories would have been wiped (what that meant, he could not understand anymore, for he truly had lost the ability to remember Faeo) and that he would definitely be something different, his dream remained largely the same: I want to travel the world, free of burden, free as the wind. As he would like to say. However, Gosgosh just wanted to be a blacksmith. Nishi would not settle for such low goals: he wanted to be a master craftsman, a jeweler of the highest grade who would not need help from anyone. Rings of tin, steel or gold? Check! Carbon powder for the steel rings? Check! Being able to facet the gems? Check! Being able to catch the spirits which empower the pieces of jewelry on your own? Check! Being able to assemble the rings and necklaces himself, being able to imbue them with the power of the spirits on his own? CHECK!!
Nishi knew, that his goals were high, but he would not settle for less. "Dreams are meant to be lofty; the way is worth more than the actual end goal." Which is why he declared owning a soul of each flavor of dragon there is in Agonia his goal. Obviously, half his peers immediately declared him crazy.
And so, he set out again, to train his body and his abilities until he had reached his goals.
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Nishi made himself known in the Order as someone you could trust. For a time, he was a leader of the Quiet, and he tried guiding new Agonians so that they could learn from the mistaken he and Gosgosh had done in the past. But it never set right with him, that he had inherited a war which had been waged long before he had washed ashore near New Haven. Nishi did not care who killed who first, who tossed the first stone. The whole thing was kinda tedious, and just because he had been washed ashore where he had, he was supposed to hate everyone flying a green flag and coming from the east? Or, if he had washed ashore near Exodus, he would have been forced to hate everyone flying the magenta flag coming from the west? Never made sense to Nishi; never had, never does, never would be in the future. This only reinforced his belief, that his dream was right and good, something worth fighting and working for.
After one too many heated debates, Nishi had enough. He gathered material, and looked at the maps. One place, a bit away from the faction, perfect for a home. Irresistibly, his eyes always were drawn to a particular mountain range, wedged between a dangerous desert, a dangerous waste, a dangerous forrest and a dangerous plains. "Perfect", Nishi thought. "Now I can get away from the faction whenever I want." Deep within, he did not want to leave the Order yet, for he had found a lot of good friends in the Order: Wollie, Dihajh, Celphy, Askytos, Groinky, Rangar, Thebiggerone, Bacon, Zaverin, Phage...the list went on and on. Nevertheless, some part of Nishi never felt like he belonged in the Order.
And thus he set out, with his trusty cart, his tools, his gear. And he built himself a town, mostly by himself, but in the end with the help of Thebiggerone. And Nishi was happy, for some time.
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Living at the outskirts of the Order came with its own perks and challenges. Like border patrol. One the bright side, Nishi got to meet his new neighbors, Kyri and Strato's merry band of freefolk crafters and traders. While Nishi admired them, he knew that he would never be able to be as neutral as they had been, so he never dared to ask them whether he could join them. Then there was this other town at the border, a town long given up. It was said, that some Dutch reigned there once, but apparently he had moved on before even Gosgosh first had set foot on Agonian soil. There was also the matter of the place where freefolk could re-enter Agonia. For they had, back then, no capital of their own. Normally, this would not be a problem as Nishi himself wanted to go free one day. However, one of the freefolk was a rude Norsk woman by the name of Hisoka. She made advances on Nishi and would not take no for an answer. With a heavy heart, Nishi took his spear, and gave Hisoka not the penetration she wanted, but the one she apparently needed. Hisoka however, was not deterred from Nishi's answer, and tried it a few more times. He did not want to, but Nishi saw himself forced to kill Hisoka four times altogether, before she finally understood that no means no. But the damage on Nishi's soul had been done already, his hands stained deep red with norsk blood. A stain so deep, it went on his soul, for no matter how often he would wash his hands, the red would always come back. Dreams of fights, he was forced to fight; by being in a faction and by being near crazy persons like Hisoka; they haunted Nishi.
All he had ever wanted was peace...and his dreams began to shift, to include more the sense of peace, both within and without. Soon, that peace was more important that the faction, more important than being a crafter who could do as he pleased...
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Post by Nishikienrai on Jun 7, 2021 5:14:37 GMT 1
Changes, long overdue
Balin is now Oblong. Rangar is now Knutn. Groinky is now Cube. Neither is in the Order anymore. Some things just change. Some changes just made Nishi sad.
Wollie has gone MIA for some time. He promised to come back. Nishi dearly missed his friend. Oblong, Knutn and Dihajh are gone now, gone forever. Some changes just made Nishi sad.
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The world changed, underground volcano action brought forth rich veins of titanium ore. One last time, Nishi tried donning his gear, took his best spear. But he was severely outclassed, wherever he went. Some things just change, some never will.
The blood, red, he still can see it on his hands. Hisoka's blood.
..."Nevermore"
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Nishiki Enrai travels home, to Nazarick, the town he had build. He is wary of this conflict, he is tired of the bloodshed. He is done now. He goes to his personal safe, and he takes off his magenta badge. Maybe he will rejoin his old friends one day, but for now, he simply cannot. Nishi goes down, into the basement. He takes out hammer and anvil, wood-chisel and saw; and he starts crafting. Though his crafting skills are high, it is hard to work through teary eyes, and so his new badge is not a piece of art, but just ordinary. His new badge is blue.
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Dream loading... Dream loading... Blacksmithing 276/400 Stoneworking 365/370 Alchemy 230/370 Sorcery 474/Open ended Peace of mind: achieved
Still a long way to go...
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Post by Nishikienrai on Feb 8, 2022 0:25:59 GMT 1
Loneliness Nishi sat at the edge of the cliff. Far down below, he could see the flying monstrosities swarming in the distance. He couldn’t hear them, they were too far off for that. But the movements were unmistakable. “Must have been another traveler“, chuckled Nishi. He always warned his guests to not wander carelessly in this backwater he called home, but not always the travelers had heeded his words and warnings. Not, that he often had visitors to begin with, no. Most of his days were spent polishing rocks, or mixing potions, or creating ever more beautiful pieces of war and jewelry. Only now and then Nishi allowed himself some rest, looking over the land he didn’t own. Not, that Nishi wanted to own said land, no no. Far from that, whoever wanted to own these flying-and-stomping-reptile infested minefields could claim them as theirs, for all that Nishi cared. The monsters seemed to have calmed down a bit. Either the traveler fled or was dead. Nishi stood up, and started to track back to his home. The blue badge on his chest still felt weird, unusual. “Nobody really bothers me, these days“, he mused. „It is rather lonely, but then again it is more free than I have ever be. I could get used to this. I could get addicted to this.“ He entered his home, his little castle, and marched right to his vault. “What precious stones do I still have that need their inner beauty revealed?“, Nishi murmured while he rummaged through piles of unused materials and already assembled gear. He finally picked out a small handful of rubies and amethysts, and made his way to his workshop. There, he started up his grind and slowly, side after side and gem after gem, faceted them all. Suddenly, he thought he had reached a deeper kind of understanding, a means to even facet the rarest and most valueable kind gems..and then he heard loud banging from his front door. Nishi looked up from his work, irritated to have been disturbed when he was in deep communion with his inner craftsman. It was already deep in the night. He hadn’t noticed. Nishi put away the now brilliantly shining gems. He took a torch and stomped towards the main entrance, shouting that he was on his way. Nishi opened the door. There was a silhouette, just barely greater in height but twice his size. “Are you the one they call Master NishikiEnrai?“, the silhouette asked. „I have never heard anyone call me master, but it is my name“, grinned Nishi, „who wants to know this and what is your purpose in my Nazarick, good sir…or ma‘am?“ “I am looking for a place of learning where I can perfect my craft in the smithy. My name is Joku42.“ —————————————- dream loading…
dream loading…
Stoneworking 370+/370
Stoneworking complete
potenial ally aquired
potential friend acquired
Still a long way to go…
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Post by Nishikienrai on Feb 12, 2022 20:52:58 GMT 1
Much ado about nothingJoku made himself a Home in Nazarick quickly. The dwarr and the lightfoot also bonded quickly over shared interests and opinions. What good is equipment not made from your own hands? Or by hands you know well? A sword stolen can never serve as well as one you had crafted yourself, no? One day, when they were working the metal again, Nishi holding the iron while Joku swing the hammer, they heard shouting outside, growing louder and louder. Unnerved, the two short ones stopped what they were doing and went to the door, to see what the ruckus was all about. But when they arrived at the door, the screams had already moved on. Joku raised an eye brow: „do you think it’s something important? I can’t see a thing.“ “Maybe, maybe not“, replied Nishi. „But I can see some flags in the distance that I know. I will take my mantle and hurry after them. Want to join in?“ Joku denied, his work in the smithy was more important to him, and so he stayed behind as Nishi set out to find what the ruckus was all about… ——————————————————————————————— Later…Nishi returned angry, frustrated and tired. Joku Shot him a questioning look, and Nishi let loose: “Apparently it was all about some big ass white lizard! We ran around all day and night but when the action came, I was asleep. Nothing gained, but a lot of nerves and sleep was lost! Screw that!“ Joku remained calm, turned around, and went back to strike the metal with his hammer, as he had done since he had arrived in Nazarick. After some grumbling, mumbling, bitching and moaning, Nishi joined him eventually as well. They both didn’t notice the messenger bats that had flapped into their home after Nishi until way later… ————————
Dream loading…
dream loading…
-5 nerves
-10 wakeness
-137 hairs
dream is further away than ever, rest well little Lightfot
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