Fantasy The Cult of Illithiss

[Sara3502]

"Well, let me explain a bit better. A river spirit holds all of the various personalities water contains, but essentially acts like a mother figure to the water. Water with a spirit will try to do good. If someone falls in the water it will try not to harm the person, and will slow the current surrounding them in an attempt to help. It will be mindful of the creatures that need it, and it will be 'curteous.' A water without a spirit does not have a conscience to keep it kind. It is in essence like a 6 year old who has no parents doing everything it wants selfishly, and sometimes cruelly. When a person falls in, it may even intentionally try to drown the person just for fun. That's why water must have spirits guiding it. I am not sure how alike that is to your red Orcs though. I have never made the acquaintance of one." Euthalia replied.

 

[Aldur]

"You might not know,but that sums up the red orcs perfectly. If it wouldn't be for their wise elders they would battle each other in the same clan. An orc is a fighter. Death in battle is the highest honor an orc can achieve. A true orc's existence revolves around how good he or she can carry themselves in a fight. This applies even for our shamanistic brothers too. They fight both with a weapon and with the spirits' help.


A green orc may not have the raw force a red orc has,but his power is everywhere around us. A green orc draws his strength from his surroundings."


Gorrund lost himself in explaining the rituals of his kind again,but he cannot help it. He talked about it with such passion.


"Pardon me,spirit. I am very passionate about my kind's traditions."

 

[Sara3502]

"It is quite funny that we share this similarity. And it is great that you have such strong love for your people. I have not ever had such ties with mine. I do hope you hold on to those feelings." She smiled. "I do have one inquiry: you spoke of green and red orcs, but not about pale orcs such as yourself. What are they like?" Euthalia asked.

 

[marorda]

Maya silently listened to the conversation, but with a lot of interest. She did not know much of the river spirits, nor of the orcs, so hearing both of them speak of their kinds with so much passion was both interesting and educational to her.


And to still be considered young when you were a thousand years old... That was amazing too! The elves became much older than humans. She, as half elf, was a little older than she might look too. But neither she nor the elves would ever reach that age.

 

[Aldur]

"Pale orcs favor a fine combination of wits and strength. We do not charge head-on as the red orcs,or draw our strength from the world. We simply capitalize on our enemies' weaknesses. My people also prefer craftsmanship as a profession. I can forge metal like no other in my clan. Bring me your trickiest sword and I shall temper it. Someone in my clan used to fashion sturdy armor from the shells of dead giant insects deep inside the mountain. They would last twice as much as iron. The pale-ness of our skin comes because we don't spend as much time in the sun as the others. I,for example, have spent a decent amount of time outside in my expeditions and patrolls. You ought to see some orcs from my clan. They are as pale as the snow,though they most likely haven't ever seen it. Only a few ever get to go outside. Orcs such as myself, I used to be a field commander so I got to go outside every few days in a patroll."

 

[Sara3502]

'What an interesting people. No wonder they aren't heard of.' Euthalia thought.


"I see. You have an amazing culture. I hope to one day meet these people. You see, I have stayed near my river my whole existence, and never learned entirely about the world outside. This is the first occasion I have decided to fully interact with civilization. I guess that's a problem with being as old, or older than the cities and groups around you. Their way of life seems novel, compared to what you grew with." Euthalia mused.

 

[marorda]

Maya nodded in agreement and gave a small chuckle.


"Even I face that problem already, from time to time. And I'm not even that old," she said. "And then you travel a lot too. Makes it awfully hard to maintain friendships."


She looked at Euthalia, having heard her say something that had drawn her curiosity.


"Euthalia? You said a river spirit adapts to the water. Now I wonder, the area of Alajana's Rest has faced many wars. The city switched kingdoms many times. As I assume you know, the Esdan River is the border between Saragas and the kingdom south of here. Sometimes it was part of Saragas, at other times of the other kingdom. How does war affect the water? With all the bodies dumped in there, and the blood finding its way to the sea..."


It was a mix of curiosity to her kind, and concern for nature and the humans' effects on it. She was, after all, part elf, and nature was important to her.

 

[Sara3502]

Euthalia's face darkened.


"As you already know, blood represents many things, and feelings correspond to it. Blood may turn to 'ice' when fear is present, it may be life in a natural environment, and in war it boils with hatred and anger. Now, blood in water is not always a bad thing. In ancient times people wishing to aid a river would sacrifice a small amount of blood to it, as it's life enabling qualities in a good person were valuable. This was good, and promoted the water to be kind."


Before continuing, Euthalia took a pause and a deep, shaky breath.


"In the case of war, the blood in bodies is hateful, bellicose, full of envy, and evil. This, when laced in sufficient quantities in a river change it. The water grows rebellious, proud, hateful, and even worse than spiritless water. It wants more and more of the angry fuel to its fire." Another pause was taken, followed by a small whisper. "It may even break the spirit's purity. If the spirit is able to regain their love, it will still take a long time for them to find their true self again." Her eyes grew round with the sadness that only reflection of personal experience can bring.

 

[Aldur]

The orc fell a little uneasy when he heard that. Whenever an orc died every clan and tribe would burn their dead respectfully. Sometimes even humans would get this treatment. He'd never hear of orcs dumping bodies in the rivers. It seemed like a ridiculous way of getting rid of corpses.


"Humans dump bodies in rivers? That's a dumb way of disposing the corpses."

 

[Sara3502]

Euthalia nodded, her eyes still round with sadness and regret.


"It is considered disrespectful, and they do it to the dead of their enemies to disgrace them and their cause. It may just be a symbol to the humans that do it, but it changes more than they can imagine."

 

[marorda]

"Most don't," Maya said. "But in times of war they care little about their slain opponents, as Euthalia just explained."


She, too, was quite unsettled as she listened to Euthalia's explanation. So it could be very dangerous then, for a river to be near a warzone. A river out of control, when even the spirit of the water couldn't control it anymore.


"Usually they bury their dead. On graveyards or in catacombs. There's huge catacombs below this city, for example. I don't get the concept of a graveyard or a catacomb. Especially the latter. Why lock up the dead bodies? It's different from the way elves treat their dead. Much different."

 

[Aldur]

"We burn the bodies. Our dead get the prettier 'graves' while humans are just piled up and burnt in a special structure.Not sure how disgraceful that is. It's just an all around better way to dispose of them.How do elves take care of their dead?"

 

[Sara3502]

Euthalia tried to appear interested for the answer Maya would give to his question, but was still too shocked to fully listen.


'That was a long time ago.' She thought. 'I'm not that person anymore. That person died when the Old Wars did.'


All this ran through her head as various memories flitted by with them.

 

[marorda]

"There's a whole ritual when elves die. Like humans, we bury our dead. But we bury them with a seed, preferably an acorn, as oaks are holy to us. The idea is thar new life will sprout from old. And the oak will be a beacon for the deceased's soul, should we ever desire contact with our ancestors. At the funeral, we also have a pyre. The smoke, we think, guides the deceased's soul to the afterlife. What follows is a three day celebration. On the first day we celebrate and remember the great achievements of the deceased elf, the second day we celebrate he is now an ancestor, and that he will watch over us with the other ancestors. The third day we celebrate life, what we have, what we will do. Basically we recognize we should be grateful for what we have, for life is fleeting and you'll never know when it will end," Maya explained to Gor. And Fenris and Euthalia too, if they were listening.

 

[Sara3502]

Euthalia caught ahold of herself, and swam back to reality. She nodded, smiling at Maya. "That is quite something." She smiled. "In my case, as well as other spirit's, by the time we die of natural causes our original source will have been so stopped up for so long that eventually people will have forgotten about our existence when our water is no longer valuable. Then one day we just flit away, leaving a small puddle behind." She laughed a bit. "After all, funeral isn't needed for a puddle."

 

[Aldur]

"There used to be a ritual...very long time ago. I heard it from my grandfather. Some orcs in the Berserker clan would give one of their eyes for a vision of their own deaths. Sometimes the vision would show more than just their deaths. There's a story. Once in their history. The red orcs would live in fear of the ogres. Their chieftain was ill and dying. His bloodline would give an eye for a vision as I've mentioned earlier.


He saw his clan not as it was, but as it could be. Brugg was his name. He saw the clan slaughtering the ogres. His determination was unwavering as he slayed ogre after ogre. When the vision showed him his death. He embraced it..."

 

[Sara3502]

"It is good he embraced his death. Too many see something like that and try their hardest to prevent it. It is amazing that he was able to resist that." Euthalia commented.

 

[Aldur]

"He was so...Soldiers said he was sitting on the battlefield,laughing with 10 spears in his back. His laugh striked fear in the humans and the orcs were able to overcome them. Brugg just stood there and laughed until he gave his las breath..."





((We still doing this? @marorda @Sara3502 @CrimsonEclipse))

 

[marorda]

((I'm still for it. I was quite busy the last few days. And @HunterJJ said in a PM he'd post his starter, but he still needs to do so. TurtleGod said to get started without him))


Maya silently listened to what Gor and Euthalia had to say as she walked the group to the district where the guilds were. She pointed at the large building she had mentioned before.


"The Adventurer's Guild is over there," she said. "I, as I've mentioned, need to go to the Entertainers Guild, which is close by here as well. Perhaps, if we are lucky, we'll see each other again like when they start sending me around like a messenger. If not, it was nice meeting you people. May you be successful in whatever mission you are taking on.

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

(Sorry, was busy IRL. Finals are next week for me here. Can't post right now, it's midnight here. I'll post in the morning.)

 

[Aldur]

"Farewell,bard. May luck shine upon you..."


He made his way inside the guild not looking back.

 

[Uncultured]

Takeshi walked down the concourse of Meadowcreek, around him the noise of the open market swirled around him and the smells of freshly cooked food entered his nostrils. It was a beautiful day and Takeshi's second personality was firmly in control, his thoughts were calm and purposeful and he ignored the odd looks that his weapons and armor drew from the residents of the strange universe. It had been several years since Takeshi had left the prison in the prison dimension and slowly he had acclimated to the new universe he had been sent to, but even so the strange people and the even stranger sentient beings that populated the world he had been sent too still irked him and he often debated whether or not it was real or if he was in some hallucinatory state while still trapped within the shard of space time that the daemon had sent him to all those years ago.


Rumors of the adventure guild had been swirling and he could think of no better place for him to be, he was a warrior born and bred and nothing excited him more than the feeling of cold steel in his hand and the fear of the enemy in their eyes as he brought his thousand fold Katana down upon their neck. Before he went any further, his hunger overcame his current goal and he stopped off at one of the small food stalls, pulling out a sack of gold and silver coins in the process. He quickly eyed the menu and ordered a half a chicken and a corn cob along with a cup of hot tea before sitting down and passing a couple if the coins over the counter towards the cook/waiter.


"Ey, look at this one huh" said one of the men that sat along the long table that doubled as a counter for the stall. "Ain't that the guy who say he from, what was it, Jakan?" said the man's friend in an accent that spoke of his past, that of a man who lacked in education and refinement. "Japan, a land of beauty, home of an honorable people and the warriors way that of Bushido" said Takeshi in a quiet tone as he smelled the aroma of the tea, before taking a small sip and placing the cup back down on the counter top. The two men laughed heartily before the first one spoke. "Japan, never heard of it, I hear your a real nutcase, and whats with the armor you wear?" said the man. Takeshi's second personality suppressed his first personality before he spoke in response. "The armor of a Samurai, in the traditional colors of my lord" said Takeshi in a quiet voice after taking another measured sip of his tea. "Listen to how dis' one talk eh' that sword of your's ain't worth the steel it's forged out of in your hands" said the man's friend.


Takeshi's more rational half suppressed his other half once more, before calmly relegating himself to silence as the cook brought over his chicken and corn. "Just gonna sit there and take it eh' madman?" asked the first man. "Anata ga tatte ita mae ni, anata no atama wa jimen ni usowotsuku" said Takeshi in a harsh and violent tone in his native tongue, threatening to decapitate the man before he stood if he initiated combat. "Just forget him, he ain't even a rational man" said the second man, attempting to diffuse the situation before it escalated further. "Not a chance" said the first man as his face cracked into a wolf like grin before rapidly standing up, knocking over his stool, drawing a large knife from a sheath he had hidden underneath his baggy tunic, just above his pant line.


Before the man could even swing his blade, Takeshi moved with lightning speed, drawing his blade in one motion he removed the man's hand from his arm, the now separated limb dropped to the floor and for several seconds the man stood in a state of shock before collapsing to the ground, screaming and clutching onto his freshly created stump. Takeshi's first personality finally took over, his once rational mind now filled with the strange mania of the manic first personality. "For the glory of Japan, I end your life worm know Takeshi son o-" said the first personality, before the second one took over once more cutting off the words of the first as the second personality strained desperately to stop the first from ending the life of the man.


Takeshi looked around as he regained control once more, he was confused but he knew two things, first and foremost, he was hungry and second had to leave, he quickly grabbed the cooked chicken by it's brown leg, walking away rapidly as he took a large bite out of the freshly cooked poultry, and walking briskly towards the adventurers guild.

 

[marorda]

((the adventurers guild is not in Meadowcreek though. It's in Alajana's Rest ))


Maya smiled politely at the group and waved them a small goodbye as she too turned around and wandered to the Entertainers Guild to ask why they had asked her to come over. She knew one thing though: they had something for her to do again.


The people of Meadowcreek watched the strange man leave. None dared to follow him, or even speak a word after they had watched him almost kill a man. Said man had by now fainted from blood loss, and he was quickly being carried off to the chapel.


"Let's hope that madman doesn't return here," several people muttered.

 

[Aldur]

((Ahem...What's up?))

 

[marorda]

((dunno... I'm waiting for others to reply again...))