Frustrated Father
09-29-2005, 09:39 PM
There is an almost palatable taste at the back of my throat, the heavy rich scent of spilled blood hanging in the air, as I open my eyes slowly wondering, for a moment, just who I was and what I was doing here.
Blood lay splashed along the walls and ceilings and pooled on the floor where the vomit and dirt covered straw had not soaked up the rich crimson stain. Bodies, torn and mutilated were strewn around the room like so much discarded refuse, silent screams and masks of terror frozen on to the few bodies that still had their heads. I remembered now. They had provoked me, had made jest of me! But I showed them. I had bloody well showed them! Pick on poor Oswald would they? Thump the Hump they had said, and they had laughed as one after another began to thump my warped and distorted back with its large hump. No more! No more!
That's when I showed them though, showed them what I had become. I had a power of my own! Teeth and fur, claws and raw killing power. I showed them ... showed them good.
_______________________
As I began to slump forward my assistant caught my shoulder, holding my weight for a moment while I shook off the affects of the Seeing. I didn't like to use that spell often as it always drained me of so much and made me question just who I was, what I was doing.
I could taste blood in my mouth. As I looked around the shattered remains of the 'Wanton Wench' tavern, dried blood covering much of the ruined room, the bodies having been removed already. Sadly it didn't take with them the swarm of flies that circled in the gore.
Oswald. Thump the Hump.
I had to shake my head clear again, that isn't me, that's part of the Seeing. Moving a scared hand to the bridge of his nose he pinched it as he fought off the headache that was surely coming. Just who was I ... I ... yes, I remember now. Slowly my identity asserted itself once again.
Alister Crom. Mage of the Seventh Circle, Watch Mage for the City of Ravensblight and a damn powerful Necromancer in my own right. Dead men do tell tales.
I had to smile at my rather horrid pun as I looked a mirror that seemed to have miraculously survived any damage and found myself staring at a man well into his middle years with black hair peppered white with a clean lip and cheeks but a long beard from the chin that was pulled into a rather impressive point which held rather too much white if he though sadly. Unlike many practitioners who tended to have pallid and unhealthy figures he himself had sun bronzed skin, eyes of clear blue, and a stomach that was slowly turning towards what one could politely call a paunch. My black cloak spread across my back and was open, showing richly tailored and comfortable clothing. Not too shabby I thought.
A small cough brought me back to the moment as my assistant cleared her throat. Damn spell, always left me befuddled for a few moments, though Leisha always seemed to take good care of me during these moments.
Leisha, my assistant, student and sometimes lover was a Necromancer as well, and on her way to being a damn good one. She might look only twenty winters old, but I knew for a fact that she was well into her fortieth and had come into her power late in life. I also knew that her bargain with the Powers that granted her abilities also gave her a youthful appearance. I enjoyed the benefits of it though.
"Snap out of it Alister," Leisha snapped and flicked me on the end of my nose with a long finger, setting my nose to stinging and bringing instant tears to my eyes.
"The Powers damn you woman. That hurt!"
"Stop your whining," she said caustically.
Even to my ears it sounded like a whine and I quickly blinked back the tears before growling an oath and clearing my head. It was the Seeing, did that to a person. Smirking at me she gestured to the three men waiting on the other side of the room, the Watch Captain Brin and his two flunkies, all three looking at me expectantly.
Time to earn my pay.
"Oswald, that was the name of the killer. A hump back cripple, perhaps thirty winters aged, long unkempt hair, balding. He ... ", I paused for a moment as I looked around the room and could almost hear the screams and feel the power that was expended here. "He changed himself into a beast of sorts, what I am unsure, though it was unnaturally strong and fierce and not of a power of his own. A spell placed upon him perhaps, a talisman, something with an outside influence. The residual magic has a distinct feel to it, of rage and hate untamed. Whatever it was, it transformed this man into a creature which then created this slaughter and damage," I waved a hand lazily in a circle about me, indicating the shattered tables, claw marks gouging the floor and of course, the blood.
The Watch Captain didn't seemed pleased in the least and my next words were going to just thrill him. "I believe we have a renegade Practitioner operating within Ravensblight." Behind me I could hear Leisha mutter something derrogative.
_______________________________________________
Decided to start this thing off and have a go at it and just went with what came to me at the time. I hope you find it of some interest with which to build the rest of the story.
Next up?
Blood lay splashed along the walls and ceilings and pooled on the floor where the vomit and dirt covered straw had not soaked up the rich crimson stain. Bodies, torn and mutilated were strewn around the room like so much discarded refuse, silent screams and masks of terror frozen on to the few bodies that still had their heads. I remembered now. They had provoked me, had made jest of me! But I showed them. I had bloody well showed them! Pick on poor Oswald would they? Thump the Hump they had said, and they had laughed as one after another began to thump my warped and distorted back with its large hump. No more! No more!
That's when I showed them though, showed them what I had become. I had a power of my own! Teeth and fur, claws and raw killing power. I showed them ... showed them good.
_______________________
As I began to slump forward my assistant caught my shoulder, holding my weight for a moment while I shook off the affects of the Seeing. I didn't like to use that spell often as it always drained me of so much and made me question just who I was, what I was doing.
I could taste blood in my mouth. As I looked around the shattered remains of the 'Wanton Wench' tavern, dried blood covering much of the ruined room, the bodies having been removed already. Sadly it didn't take with them the swarm of flies that circled in the gore.
Oswald. Thump the Hump.
I had to shake my head clear again, that isn't me, that's part of the Seeing. Moving a scared hand to the bridge of his nose he pinched it as he fought off the headache that was surely coming. Just who was I ... I ... yes, I remember now. Slowly my identity asserted itself once again.
Alister Crom. Mage of the Seventh Circle, Watch Mage for the City of Ravensblight and a damn powerful Necromancer in my own right. Dead men do tell tales.
I had to smile at my rather horrid pun as I looked a mirror that seemed to have miraculously survived any damage and found myself staring at a man well into his middle years with black hair peppered white with a clean lip and cheeks but a long beard from the chin that was pulled into a rather impressive point which held rather too much white if he though sadly. Unlike many practitioners who tended to have pallid and unhealthy figures he himself had sun bronzed skin, eyes of clear blue, and a stomach that was slowly turning towards what one could politely call a paunch. My black cloak spread across my back and was open, showing richly tailored and comfortable clothing. Not too shabby I thought.
A small cough brought me back to the moment as my assistant cleared her throat. Damn spell, always left me befuddled for a few moments, though Leisha always seemed to take good care of me during these moments.
Leisha, my assistant, student and sometimes lover was a Necromancer as well, and on her way to being a damn good one. She might look only twenty winters old, but I knew for a fact that she was well into her fortieth and had come into her power late in life. I also knew that her bargain with the Powers that granted her abilities also gave her a youthful appearance. I enjoyed the benefits of it though.
"Snap out of it Alister," Leisha snapped and flicked me on the end of my nose with a long finger, setting my nose to stinging and bringing instant tears to my eyes.
"The Powers damn you woman. That hurt!"
"Stop your whining," she said caustically.
Even to my ears it sounded like a whine and I quickly blinked back the tears before growling an oath and clearing my head. It was the Seeing, did that to a person. Smirking at me she gestured to the three men waiting on the other side of the room, the Watch Captain Brin and his two flunkies, all three looking at me expectantly.
Time to earn my pay.
"Oswald, that was the name of the killer. A hump back cripple, perhaps thirty winters aged, long unkempt hair, balding. He ... ", I paused for a moment as I looked around the room and could almost hear the screams and feel the power that was expended here. "He changed himself into a beast of sorts, what I am unsure, though it was unnaturally strong and fierce and not of a power of his own. A spell placed upon him perhaps, a talisman, something with an outside influence. The residual magic has a distinct feel to it, of rage and hate untamed. Whatever it was, it transformed this man into a creature which then created this slaughter and damage," I waved a hand lazily in a circle about me, indicating the shattered tables, claw marks gouging the floor and of course, the blood.
The Watch Captain didn't seemed pleased in the least and my next words were going to just thrill him. "I believe we have a renegade Practitioner operating within Ravensblight." Behind me I could hear Leisha mutter something derrogative.
_______________________________________________
Decided to start this thing off and have a go at it and just went with what came to me at the time. I hope you find it of some interest with which to build the rest of the story.
Next up?