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Old 02-05-2004, 11:50 PM   #1
Bungleau
40th Level Warrior
 

Join Date: October 29, 2001
Location: Western Wilds of Michigan
Posts: 11,752
As the zenmaster and the rest left the chamber in search of Stackman, Missy Hissy looked at Kerah and Anephas as they approached.

“You have done well,” said Anephas, “defeating the dark lord. Still, there is one thing to weigh on your soul. If you-“

“Step aside, puppy,” said Missy, elbowing past him and squaring up to Kerah. The words of the zenmaster rang in her ears, that she was truly of divine birth in some way. She didn’t know how deeply she believed it to be true... but what if it were? Stories abounded of children sired by gods, born of the twisted liaison between a god and a human. Or a goddess and a human... perhaps that was why she knew so little of her mother.

“Kerah!” she barked. “Your litterbox is clean. Yet it is fouled again by your presence... why is that?”

“But the Mavin...” continued Anephas.

Missy turned. “Oh, be quiet! Do you think she cares a whit about the Mavin? Do you think she cares a whit about my soul? Do you think she cares about you? Not at all.”

Anephas’ face darkened. “You speak of things you know not. Watch what you say, lest your immortal soul be released early.”

Missy stared at him unrelentlessly. “You think I know nothing... did you not even look at the walls of your tomb? For centuries, Kerah tried to build one champion after another against Cet. You were but the latest in a line of toys, each one made differently than the last. You were good enough to cripple Cet, but not good enough to remove him. It’s taken her nine hundred years of rolling the dice to get someone with better skills and abilities than you, and I’m it. The last of the toy soldiers.”

Anephas clenched his jaw. “I am not a toy. I know nothing of toys.”

Missy stared at Anephas for a moment. “Did you have a father?”

Anephas crossed his arms. “I did, but he died when I was young. There was no time for playing after that. He gave me some knowledge before he was killed, and Kerah helped me learn after that.”

Missy shrugged. “Same thing happened to me. Dad was killed, I was orphaned. Except my dad’s standing over there, with wings. Or at least the person I thought was my dad... who put a contract out on my life. I heard a bard sing about such things at the Jhereg Boinger tavern in the Cleft Land... many times over. Don’t suppose you had a mother, either?”

Anephas responded grimly. “She died much younger... all I had to remember her was a -“

“A glass pendant?” asked Missy. She reached into her pack. “This one is all I have to remember my mother by. I thought it was precious when I was younger... Miruth identified it as a legendary piece of cursed jewelry, part of the Red Hair Ring.”

Anephas took the pendant in his hands. “I used to have a single piece of jewelry to remember my mother by....” Anephas looked at Kerah. “What is this, Kerah? What is the meaning of this?”

Kerah shrugged her shoulders, annoyed by the conversation but not bothered by it. “You were very important to me and to the land, Anephas. Where you came from is unimportant... look at all you did!”

“Flooding a city, ending a race, and destroying a land... these are all things I did at your bidding, Kerah. I look at what I did, and I weep.”

Missy spoke up. “The city still lives, though differently. And the race... the living tree is now spawning, and within a century, shall be fruitful again. And the land... what one rejects, another shall seek. Even in the most desolate of deserts, there is still life. I have seen it.”

Kerah stepped between Anephas and Missy. “All well and good, but the issue now is the Mavin sword. Relinquish it and go on with your life, lest it consume you as it has so many others.”

“Really, Kerah?” said Missy. “Everything I’ve seen and heard tells me that the Mavin doesn’t cause problems. It’s the messes you get into trying to fulfill that oath. No Mavin wielder has died in centuries from the blade, but from greed or foolishness. And perhaps both are the same.”

Anephas spoke again. “Is this true, Kerah? Have you lied to me these many years?”

Kerah paused. “Well, it’s not exac- no,not - no. I never lied to you.”

Anephas asked again, “But did you tell me the truth?”

The silence in the chamber was deafening.

Anephas turned to Missy. “Long have I lived, and long have I died. Now living again, I see how little I lived. You are welcome to the sword. Perhaps you are its equal.”

He faced Kerah. “You, I grieve. In the afterworld, I dreamt of your presence. I now dream of your absence.”

Anephas walked toward the lava entryway, pausing for a moment. “The lich knew he sold his soul for immortal life, and chose to pay the cost. Would that I have known the cost of what you sold me, Kerah. I leave you... nothing. There is only silence.”

Kerah looked at the retreating Anephas with a strange glint in her eye. “I don’t need you anyway,” she mumbled. She turned to Missy. “Now what?”

Missy stood still, her body frozen. She wanted more than anything to kill Kerah, to avenge her loss of childhood, of family, of friendship... but to do so would be retribution, not justice. And young though she was in the ways of zen, she did not want to incur such a large karmic debt. Not yet, at least. Now what?

“I wish to end your miserable life,” Missy said. “More than anything. But as the old saying goes, a coward dies a thousand deaths while a brave man dies but one. As many as you have slain, so too should you be slain.”

Missy unsheathed the Mavin, the dark fire glowing bright blue in the reddish cavern. “I do not know if I can kill a god, or a goddess. But I can call down the wrath of the gods on those who do not play the game.”

The Mavin rose high in the air as Missy called forth the gods of Ironworks, the deities of the Gael Serran, and the souls of the parents and children that Kerah had so callously toyed with. She brought the blade next to Kerah’s face.

“May the water where you swam refuse to give you life,” intoned Missy, and the black fire leapt lightly from the Mavin, sealing Kerah’s gills.

The blade next moved to Kerah’s shoulder.

“May the air where you flew refuse to give you support.” The black fire jumped to one shoulder and then the next, working into the muscles of her wings and clipping them.

The blade moved toward Kerah’s feet.

“May the land where you walked refuse to give you purchase.” The black fire shot down to Kerah’s feet, opening sores that festered and could not be healed.

The blade moved toward Kerah’s chest.

“And may the fire where you loved refuse to give you another chance.” The last of the black fire from the Mavin short forth into Kerah’s heart, turning it into a dark, hard stone.

Missy stepped back, the Mavin spent, and looked at Kerah. “For all I have done, and all I have been, I curse you. As a warrior, may you know abuse. As a samurai, may you know dishonor. As a ranger, may you know nature’s rejection. As a paladin, may you know distrust. As a ninja, may you know the eye of the world. As an assassin, may you know eternal death. And as a zenmaster, may you know all these things until such a day as you can repay all those you have wronged to their satisfaction.”

Kerah stared at Missy, the black fire dancing around the cavern. She took a step, but the pain and rejection of all Missy’s curses struck at once. “Noooooooo!” Kerah screamed, collapsing into a ball on the floor.

Missy looked down sadly. “Perhaps I betray my own karma with my actions, and I accept it. I leave you, sad child, that I may find my own family and return, neither with them nor without them.”

Missy dropped the glass pendant next to Kerah’s quivering body. “May it serve its true purpose,” she said, and stepped forward to return to Brimloch Roon.
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Old 02-06-2004, 05:44 AM   #2
bsftcs
Red Dragon
 

Join Date: January 23, 2003
Location: Denmark
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Lovely. Stackman's zenmaster was very relieved to hear the outcome of this chapter. Great writing.

[img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

That was more or less the final peril. We are close to a conclusion now.
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Old 02-06-2004, 09:05 AM   #3
Wyvern
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Join Date: January 7, 2001
Location: Rural Paradise, MI
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Oh Wow!!!!



Most excellent!!! I loved every word!!!

Go Missy! Go Missy!

Gosh, inspires you to load up the game and have at Kerah, eh??

Wyv
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Old 02-06-2004, 10:59 AM   #4
macoati
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Join Date: February 27, 2002
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Fabulous!

Well reasoned and quite appropriate for all principles!

I await the final chapters with unbridled expectations!
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Old 02-07-2004, 11:29 AM   #5
Lord
Ma'at - Goddess of Truth & Justice
 

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Great! Too bad it's coming to an end
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Old 02-09-2004, 09:45 AM   #6
WillowIX
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Join Date: July 10, 2001
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*looks through Bungleau's post once more* No unanswered qestions? Bungleau, is this really the end?

Great story Bungleau. Now dont forget to host all of the chapters in a nica accessible manner. [img]smile.gif[/img] This story needs to be stored fr he future generations of W&W players.
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Old 02-09-2004, 10:40 AM   #7
Bungleau
40th Level Warrior
 

Join Date: October 29, 2001
Location: Western Wilds of Michigan
Posts: 11,752
Thanks, guys. It is definitely coming to an end. There is an epilogue coming shortly, which will be orchestrated soon, but this is really the end. *sniff*

And Willow, I do have all of Missy's adventures in a single document. It's over 100 pages in word at this point... and if I get the motivation, I'll put those into a web page somewhere. Until then, however, there is the sticky thread that Wyv was so kind to set up at the top of this board. Thanks again, Wyv [img]smile.gif[/img]

Now that the story is just about over, it feels... strange, really. It started as me documenting the challenges of a solo warrior, migrated into hints and tips along the way, and then mutated into Missy's life story, with W&W almost playing a minor role at the end. All I'm sure of at the end of it all is that whatever you (or anyone else) may have been looking for in the story, at some point, it just wasn't there...

I'm enjoying the challenge of the Den of Thieves. No ranged attacks, no spells, no easy healing (other than the stacks of potions)... life on the edge! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]
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Old 02-22-2004, 04:55 PM   #8
Lord
Ma'at - Goddess of Truth & Justice
 

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Quote:
Originally posted by Bungleau:
Thanks, guys. It is definitely coming to an end. There is an epilogue coming shortly, which will be orchestrated soon, but this is really the end. *sniff*
Shortly? Oh really? [img]tongue.gif[/img]
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Old 02-22-2004, 05:39 PM   #9
Bungleau
40th Level Warrior
 

Join Date: October 29, 2001
Location: Western Wilds of Michigan
Posts: 11,752
Shortly. It's taken a little bit of orchestrating, and we already failed once at it. But sometime soon, you will see the end of the stories...
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