The Riling Of Rena Ryuuguu

[Dundee Slaytern]

Thanks for the compliments. [img]smile.gif[/img]

On with the story!
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It is often said that there is a fine line between madness and brillance. Karkorf Xnezzle, in his final years, often defied description. Having found a loophole in his sacred promise to his dear departed wife, he plunged himself into frenzied research on the physiology of Giants.

Despite their impressive size, the bulk came with a price. Every humanoid has an intricate network of nerve cells, each connected to many others forming mini-bundles, bundles which connected to more bundles forming bigger bundles, and so on and so forth. As anyone who is familiar with the term, 'Funny Bone', will know; striking a nerve is not a fun thing to do, if said nerve belongs to you.

Giants had bigger muscles, and in turn, they had bigger nerve bundles as well. A well-trained master in the ways of Kara-Tur can easily incapacitate an opponent by striking vulnerable nerve points. On normal-sized humanoids, these nerve points are often extremely small, and it takes extreme accuracy and precise timing to hit them. On smaller-sized humanoids such as Dwarves, you are better off just poking them in the eyes. On Giants however, these nerve points were comparatively huge, and even an average soldier can reliably hit them if given sufficient time and knowledge of their positions.

Striking most nerve points would not kill a person, but it would most assuredly make him wish it did.

Doing the research via documents was enriching, but it was not enough. In order to verify some of the data, physical experiments had to be carried out. Besides, Karkorf was not doing this for further intellectual pursuit, but in preparation for unleashing the years of grief he had bottled up within himself. As a Physician, he had kept his body in good shape, and his prior country life had toned his body. Zeal and intensive training took care of the rest as he set off on his journey to conduct 'experiments' on living subjects, armed with no more than a scalpel and a rubber mallet.

When he had arrived at the village of the Hill Giants that massarced his family, he issued a challenge to their strongest warrior. The Hill Giants were naturally dismissive of this 'puny' Human, and were derisive in their laughter as they happily obliged Karkorf's request. Their champion was sent forth, a Hill Giant of unusually large stature. Drabbed in the studded hides of various creatures and armed with a plated tree trunk, it was an intimidating sight.

Karkorf was undeterred however, and confidently entered a makeshift arena, along with the champion, to the jeers of the crowd. He faced his opponent and surveyed the giant's body, which caused a smile to grow on his face. He saw weak points. Many, weak points.

A self-appointed judge roared to signal the start of the battle and the crowd went into a frenzy of shouting and heckling. They demanded blood, preferably that of Karkorf's. The champion, whom I shall now refer to as Lumpy, charged straight towards Karkorf with club held high. Karkorf stood his ground and waited for Lumpy to get closer. The crowd laughed though, thinking that Karkorf was petrified with fear. When Lumpy was about to smash his club down, Karkorf acted immediately and spun his body to circle to the back of Lumpy. Caught in the momentum of swinging his massive club, Lumpy could not turn around in time to face Karkorf. Wasting no time in taking advantage of this opportunity, Karkorf brandished his scalpel and mallet, and hammered the scalpel into the back of Lumpy's right knee.

The effect was quite immediate. Have you ever wondered how much pain a living being could withstand? Sometimes, there is so much pain that it transcends the definition of pain and becomes painless. Your mind blanks, colours turn white, sound becomes silence, the world becomes nothing as you quickly accept the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.

If only Lumpy was so fortunate. Nay... he stayed very much conscious. His body crippled by the ludicrous amount of pain now coursing through his overloaded nerves. He tried to scream, but his throat was seized by spasms, and he could do nothing but seize continously in a futile attempt to block the pain from his mind.

The crowd had also went silent. Their champion had been brought down by a mere human in one blow. Uncertainty reigned their minds as they wondered what to do next. Some contemplated killing Karkorf in revenge, some considered challenging him, and some started to fear him.

Karkorf stood over Lumpy. With the Hill Giant prostrate on the ground, Karkorf towered over him. He reached out for his scalpel as the crowd held its' breath in anticipation of what Karkorf was going to do next. Giving the scalpel one look, he placed his hands over it and took it out. The scalpel gone, the pain subsided enough for Lumpy to start screaming. Ignoring the cries, Karkorf started applying first aid to the wound. The crowd cheered and went wild. Songs of brotherhood and friendship echoed throughout the arena as they celebrated the end of a good fight.

Then Karkorf plunged the scalpel into Lumpy's other back-knee.

It was the end for Lumpy's limit, and he promptly blacked out. The crowd went agaped with shock, but not for long. This was it, this was their limit. The aggrieved Hill Giants started pouring into the arena, with every intention to pound the living tar out of Karkorf.

Karkorf merely smiled as he flashed out six scalpels, each held between his fingers. It would become one of Toril's historical fights.
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Karkorf journeyed for many years, participating in many campaigns against Giants of all kinds. No one disputed that he was an excellent fighter, but his penchant for cruelty and vow not to kill living beings led to many strange occurances, such as the time he surgically saved a Frost Giant from death on the battlefield after he had missed his aim and struck an artery instead.

No one got killed by Karkorf, but all of them wished he had.

"Kill me! Finish me off! Let this end! Please!" they cried, as they writhed on the ground in pain.

"No," was Karkorf's usual curt reply as he swabbed their wounds with antiseptic.
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Finally, after many more years, Karkorf's anger dispersed and he went back to his rebuilt village to live out the rest of his life. Now that he had all the physical data he needed, he started to compile a book about the weaknesses of Giants. Simply titled, 'How to Cripple Giants', he spent many months filling out pages after pages.

He never announced his project, but word got around, and soon scholars and military leaders from around the region began to visit him on a regular basis. Karkorf was annoyed at first, by these constant intrusions, but he soon got used to it and took advantage of the opportunity to ask them what they wanted to know, so that he may put it down into the book.

And know he did. Chapters after chapters were written, and soon the book became more like a tome. It was not until he had reached the age of fifty-five did he finish the initial draft of what would be his life's masterpiece. Enlisting the help of his editor friends, refining chapters, simplifying terms for better understanding, etc... All these took time and when the first edition was finally done published, he had turned sixty-two.

It was an instant hit. It was a fascinating read for the morbidly-inclined, and armies with Giant problems bought mass amounts of the publication for distribution among their militaries. Even intellectual Giants bought it so that they may cover up their weak points.

The book made Karkorf rich beyond most people's wildest dreams, but it was not the money that made him happy in his final years. On the night of the fifth anniversary of his book's debut, Karkorf passed away with a smile in his sleep, clutching the one thing that mattered most to him. A pictureframe containing a portrait of his family.

The End.
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To be continued...

[ 07-26-2006, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

The plot thickens, not unlike a good bowl of turnip stew when left out for a few days...

[Babyseal]

REEEEEEENNNNNNAAAAAAAA! Where are you hiding? I guess your summer break was long enough!