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Sophia's Choice...


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Sure.. If you reread the first post in on this thread - you'll find the link... It's the tail end of the sentence you quoted...

 

You can also find 4 of the 5 in the latest CM Patch enabled game! Just make it to Seraphim Island, visit Mr Giles the perv librarian. On your way out, you'll get another quest from an Elf named Toren. It's the Ancient Secrets quest that takes you back to Bluestonbury to visit a cave. Defeat the 4 (yeah.. count 'em, FOUR bosses and take their loot. The first 4 books are part of the prize.

 

The 5th and final tome accidentally got left out from the 140 hf patch. It's going to make the 150 patch - whenever it's released. But you can still read the final tome in the post referenced.

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The items in red.

How I would have written it is in yellow.

Not trying to criticize, just trying to help.

-Omni

 

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Inoculate


Sophia sat on the edge of her bed trying to compose herself. She couldn’t remember ever having nightmares in the past. She wasn’t even sure Seraphim could even have them. Either way, whatever happened really got under her skin.

(She wasn't even sure Seraphim could have them.)


There was a knock at her door. She got up and answered it. It was the runner.


“Greetings, my queen, it’s almost dinner time. I came to wake you per your orders,” he said.


“Thank you. I’ll be right there.” Sophia replied and closed her door.


She decided it would be best if she took a quick bath so she slipped out of the now sticky nightgown and went into her private bathroom. She ran the water and climbed in. She washed the sweat, dust and grime from her body and hair and got out. After drying off, she put her old, faithful armor on and left her quarters. She made her way to the mess hall.


Sophia was startled when her helmet announced itself. “Operation complete!”


“Huh?”


“The operation you requested before your nap is now complete. A list of Seraphim who are qualified for third in command is now ready for your review,” the helmet reminded her.


“Oh yes. I’ll go over it later. I need to talk to Manda first and I think some dinner might not be a bad idea either.” Sophia thought.


“Search results saved for further review.”


As she arrived at the mess hall, she looked around for Manda – but she wasn’t in evidence anywhere in the room. She turned around and made for the medical bay.


When she arrived at the medical bay, Sophia looked around – but didn’t see Manda anywhere. She asked one of the attending Seraphim if they’d seen Manda and was told she was asleep. She, like Sophia hadn’t got much rest the night before so Manda was also taking a nap.


Sophia went back to the mess hall. She decided she would get some food. Hopefully that would make her feel better.


Sophia stood in line – and as before, people offered to let her go ahead of them. Sophia once again declined, insisting that she could wait.


As she was waiting, Orphas and Torik, his new charge came into the mess hall. Sophia got out of line and joined them.


“Orphas, Torik, Greetings. Please, come join me,” Sophia invited.


“Ah! Sophia! Just who I was looking for,” Orphas responded, “I had a disturbing thought during my afternoon nap.”


“You don’t say. I just had a nightmare.” Sophia said.


“What is a nightmare?” Orphas asked.


“It’s a bad dream.” Torik spoke. “I used to get them all the time.”


“Yes, that’s exactly what it was.” Sophia added.


“Your dream - what happened in it?” Orphas asked with a measure of urgency.


“I was sitting in the main hall in my chair. A large man came into the room. His eyes were burning with hatred and rage. He was wearing the most peculiar armor I’ve ever seen. He pulled a sword and swung it at me.”


“What happened next?”


“I don’t know. I woke up at that moment, drenched in sweat and my heart was racing.”


“Did you recognize the man in your nightmare?” Orphas asked.


“No. Although, his eyes did remind me of something I saw a few days ago.”


“What was that exactly?”


“A composite of what a male Seraphim would look like.”


“A male Seraphim... In that case, I must ask something of you, Sophia – something quite personal and private.”


“I see. In that case, let’s go to my quarters.”


“The boy can stay here and get some food. We must discuss this in private.” Orphas replied.


“OK. Torik, you go ahead and stand in line. Orphas and I need to talk for a moment and we’ll be right back. Save our place in line...” Sophia said as she tousled his hair.


“OK Auntie Sophia!” Torik grinned.


“Let’s go, then.” Sophia said.


When they reached Sophia’s quarters, Sophia went in and looked around to see if anyone had snuck in. Having found her quarters free of unwanted pests, Sophia asked, “So what did you have in mind, Orphas?”


“That factor of Seraphim blood – the part that removes evil from a being. Can it be used to prevent that seed of evil from taking root?” Orphas asked.


“You mean, give someone some Seraphim blood to prevent evil from taking over? If that’s the case, I honestly don’t know, but I suppose I can find out.”


“Please do. I do not make this request lightly!”


“OK. Give me a moment.”


Sophia sat down and focused her mind and asked, “Can someone who is basically good be given Seraphim blood to prevent evil from taking control of them?”


“Accessing... If you mean, can someone be inoculated against evil by being given Seraphim blood, the answer is yes,” the helmet replied a moment later.


“It would seem that yes, it will work.” Sophia said aloud to Orphas. “Is there a particular reason why you’re asking me for this?”


“Indeed!” exclaimed Orphas. “I had a very disturbing feeling come across me. A sort of shadow, if you will, that blocked out the light.”


“A cloud?” Sophia asked.


“Hardly, we were in Smitty’s cave.” Orphas replied, “At any rate, the sensation came from the boy as he slept.”


“He seems like a nice enough kid.” Sophia said. “But his grandfather did ask him what he did this time – as if he was a bit of a troublemaker.”


“Indeed he seems that way, but don’t forget, in his previous lifetime, he was a very powerful Dragon Mage in his own right – the most powerful we’ve ever had. And even with all of his power, he was still corrupted by the evil of the Carnach. The problem I foresee is that if I start teaching him and unlocking his true power that evil will once again rise to the surface and take over.”


Sophia nodded. “That would be a very bad thing.”


“Yes. So I ask if you could help.” Orphas said.


“Of course I will,” Sophia replied, “but I just had another thought cross my mind.”


“And that is?”


“There are many people who come to Seraphim Island to work. Some live here and never go anywhere, while others come and go as they’re needed. We need to make sure the people who come here are vetted and free of the Carnach’s evil.”


“That sounds like a plan. I understand that there’s a degree of secrecy involved with this blood trait. The question that pops to mind – how exactly do you plan to do get this done and keep it that way?” Orphas asked.


“That, my friend, is a very, very good question. One I don’t yet have an answer for. In the meantime, I think we need to get back to the mess hall before all the food is gone. I’m starving!”


---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


Sophia and Orphas returned to the mess hall – just as Torik was about to reach the counter.


“Hurry Auntie Sophia!” Torik exclaimed.


“I’m on my way!” Sophia replied, “Orphas, care to sample some yourself?”


“Sure, why not?” Orphas replied as he followed Sophia to Torik’s place in line.


Torik arrived at the head of the line. The server said, “What would you like, young man?”


“What do you got?” Torik inquired.


“We’ve got some roast boar and we’ve got roasted root vegetables, and of course gravy.”


“I’ll have some of everything, ma’am!” Torik replied, “Extra gravy please!”


“Good choice, young man,” she replied as she ladled food on to his plate.


“I’ll have the same for myself and give me a sampler plate for my friend here.” Sophia added.


“Very well, my queen – one full plate and a sampler for the gentleman.”


Torik grabbed his tray and made his way to an empty table. Sophia and Orphas soon followed suit and sat down with the boy.


Torik had already grabbed his knife and fork and dug into the food on his plate. He ate with the sort of gusto of someone who hadn’t eaten in a week.


Sophia, meanwhile sampled her food a bit more daintily. Orphas just stared at his plate, trying to decide where to begin.


“Go ahead, it won’t bite,” Sophia said between mouthfuls.


“I’m just trying to make sense of this food. It’s quite different from what we usually eat,” he replied. He picked up a fork and tentatively stabbed at the meat.


“It’s quite dead already. Eat!” Sophia chided. “It’s best when it’s still warm.”


“I see.” Orphas replied as he picked up a slice of the meat and sniffed it. He took a tentative bite out of the slice. He tried swallowing it but almost choked on it.


“Slow down, Orphas! You need to chew the food before you swallow.” Sophia said.


“Chew? That’s rather different. We generally rip bits of food and swallow it whole.”


“Yes, I know. I’ve seen you eat. But what’s good for you in that form won’t work too well in this one.”


“So I’ve noticed.” Orphas replied. He took a smaller bite and chewed the pork.


Sophia stopped eating and stared at Orphas, trying to figure out his first impression of his first cooked meal.


“Well...?” Sophia asked.


Orphas finally swallowed his mouthful. “Hmmm. Interesting. It’s been spiced with something.”


“That’d likely be garlic.” Sophia replied. “That and salt.”


“I see. It’s not bad. It’s certainly very different from what I’m used to.”


“Try the vegetables.” Sophia suggested.


Orphas used his knife to dislodge the slice of meat from his fork and stabbed a potato wedge with it. He bit into it. His face grimaced as he chewed the tuber.


“I definitely do not like that one.” Orphas replied. “My kind are obligate carnivores. I’ll pass on sampling any more.”


Sophia laughed. “It’s OK Orphas, I do understand. You’re excused from eating the vegetables. But do sample the gravy.”


Orphas stabbed his fork into the slice he abandoned, dipped it into the gravy, and took a bite. His face lit up as he chewed.”


“Hey Torik, I think he likes the gravy.” Sophia observed.


“Yup, Auntie Sophia, he sure does!” Torik replied.


Orphas finally swallowed and proceeded to dip his pork into the gravy again. “I most certainly DO like the gravy. This is good stuff. What’s it made of?”


“If I’m not mistaken, the cooks make gravy by scraping the bottom of roasting pans to get all the stuck bits off, then mix in some flour and cook it so it a bit. That’s what gives the gravy its thick and tasty consistency... If you’d like, I can maybe arrange a cooking class for you in the kitchens...”

 

(Not sure about this one.)


“That would indeed be a treat, but for the time being, there are far more important things that we need to accomplish,” Orphas declined.


“Indeed, there are.” Sophia replied,


Manda, at that moment arrived in the mess hall, looking like she had just woken up.


“Manda! Just the Seraphim I was hoping to run into this evening!” Sophia greeted.


“I’ll be right with you,” Manda replied, “I need something to eat first.”


“Sophia, would it be all right if I got a bit more gravy and perhaps a sample to go? For Loromir, of course. He needs to sample this wonderful concoction as well!” Orphas asked.


“By all means, have at it!” Sophia laughed, “I’m certain your enthusiasm for gravy will go over well with the kitchen staff. They’ll love you for it!”


“In that case, I’ll be right back.” Orphas said as he stood and joined Manda at the food station.


“Greetings, Manda, Sophia and I invite you to join us when you’ve gotten your food.” Orphas said.


“Well, with an invitation like that, sure, I’ll be glad to join you. I was going to go back to the medical bay, but what the heck. That can wait. I’m not expecting any miracles yet.”


“You mean with Lurinda and the guard?” Orphas said.


“Yes. I’m not entirely certain how long it will take. I’ve gotten the stuff they injected them with out. The swellings gone, but they still haven’t recovered yet and I’m not sure why.”

 

(I've gotten the stuff out they injected them with.)


“I am certain you will find the problem and fix it. But in the mean time, Sophia and I have a few things to discuss. We need some help with something else entirely. We’ll discuss it after dinner.


“I’m glad someone has faith in my talents. And sure, I’ll help in any way I can.”


Manda grabbed her plate and tray and made her way to Sophia’s table.


“Can I help you sir?” the serving girl asked.


“Yes, I’d like a bit more of that meat and the gravy, hold the vegetables, please. And if possible can I get say a small flagon of gravy to go?” Orphas replied.

 

(can I get, say,)


The serving girl giggled and said, “Coming right up, sir. Hey Mavel – you’re gravy’s got another fan!”


“Oy! You don’t say...” Mavel came up to the serving station, “and he’s a handsome one too, Gerdie. Best find out if he’s married or not! And I thank you sir for liking my gravy!”


“Well, um... You’re welcome. And no, I’m not married; however, I am otherwise engaged.”


“Oy, too bad Gerdie, he’s already got himself a wife to be.” Mavel said with much disappointment.


Orphas was about to respond to the contrary, but thought it best to let sleeping wargs lie.


“Yes... It’s something like that.” Orphas said instead.


“Here you are; some meat and gravy and here’s a container to go.” Gerdie handed him another plate and a container with gravy.


Orphas took the items and went back to join Sophia, Torik and Manda at the table.


“So, Orphas, it looks like the kitchen crew likes you.” Manda teased.


“Yes, it appears they do.” Orphas replied, slightly flustered. “But it would never work.”


“I suppose not.” Manda said between bites. “So what is it you two need my help with?”


“That can wait,” Sophia replied. “Eat, while the eating’s good.”


“You’re right. This roast is good today – as is the gravy” Manda replied as she mashed a potato with her fork into the sauce.


Orphas stabbed another piece of meat and dunked it into the gravy with gusto. “It most certainly is! On second thought, I may need to take you up on that offer, Sophia.”


“Offer?” Manda inquired.


“I told Orphas I’d see about getting him a cooking class in kitchen.” Sophia replied.


“Oh I see, in that case I don’t think you’ll need to do anything Sophia. Those ladies in there seem to be a bit smitten with him and I think they’d pretty much do anything to spend some time with him.” Manda teased again.


Orphas blushed slightly as he bit into the sliced meat as it dripped with gravy.


“Excuse me, please,” Torik interrupted.


“Yes, Torik, what do you have to say?” Orphas asked.


“Will there be any dessert?” Torik asked.


“Dessert? To be honest, I’m not sure.” Sophia said. “We don’t normally have dessert except on special occasions.”


“If so, I’d like some ice cream.” Torik replied. “Honey flavored.”


Sophia looked as if she had been hit by lightning out of the blue. “Torik, that sounds like a brilliant idea. Let me go see what they’ve got.” As she promptly stood up and made her way to the kitchen.


Sophia had a flash of insight. Ice cream might just be the perfect solution to Orphas’ request. If she timed it right, she could put a small drop of blood into the ice cream and serve it to the boy. He’d eat it and become inoculated. If it worked out, then they could use the same subterfuge to inoculate everyone else on the island.


Sophia grabbed Gerdie, the serving girl who was in the back, helping out with the nightly cleaning. “Excuse me, but do we have any ice cream in the cold room?”


“I don’t know, mum, but hang on a moment, I’ll check.” Gerdie said.


“Honey flavored if you’ve got it.” Sophia added.


“Yes, mum.” Gerdie said as she disappeared toward the bowels of the kitchen area.


Sophia, meanwhile grabbed a small stiletto from her belt in case she needed to prick a finger on the sly.


Gerdie returned a few moments later with a small metal tub.


“This is all we’ve got at the moment,” Gerdie replied. “Barely enough for one serving.”


“That’ll do for the time being,” Sophia replied as Gerdie grabbed a small serving dish and a large metal spoon to dig the frozen concoction from the bottom of the tub.


“You’re in luck too. It appears to be honey flavored.” Gerdie replied.


“Perfect!” Sophia added as she took the dish from Gerdie. She grabbed a spoon and stuck it into the ice cream and made her way back to the mess hall. When she was sure Gerdie went back to cleaning, she stuck herself on the tip of the stiletto, making a small pin prick. A small drop of white blood oozed from the wound. Sophia put her finger over the top of the ice cream and let a couple of drops fall onto the frozen confection. It blended perfectly.


Sophia left the kitchen and returned to the table where Torik’s face lit up. Sophia put the bowl in front of him and said, “Dig in! Sorry to say, that’s the last of that batch. But I’ll have the kitchen make more for tomorrow.”


Orphas had a rather odd look on his face, wondering just what happened. Sophia smiled at him as she stood behind Torik, and showed him her wounded finger.


Orphas’ face relaxed as he figured out what Sophia had just done. Manda was just finishing up her meal, oblivious to the interchange.


“OUCH!” Torik exclaimed.


“What’s the matter?” Manda asked.


“Brain freeze!” Torik replied.


“Slow down! It’s not going to run away from you!” Sophia said. “Ice cream is best savored so it lasts a good long time.”


“Yes, Auntie!” Torik replied.


“In the meantime, I’m going to need to get back to the medical bay. Is there something we need to discuss?” Manda asked.


“Yes, but I’d rather do that in private,” Sophia said. “Orphas, Torik, I’ll let you two finish up while I go have a quick chat with Manda.”


Sophia and Manda left the mess hall and went to Sophia’s quarters. Sophia once again made her usual search to see if anyone was lurking about.


“There are a couple of things I need to ask you.” Sophia began, “First of all, I’m running a test. If it works, I may need some help with logistics.”


“Logistics?” Manda asked.


“Orphas and I had a short discussion earlier today. He’s worried that Torik may be carrying the Carnach’s evil with him from his past life. That’s why I had a brilliant bit of inspiration just now. I put a drop of my blood on top of his ice cream.”


“Ah... I see.”


“Yup. In the mean time, my discussion with Orphas got me thinking it might be a good thing to inoculate everyone else who’s here on the island – just in case. The last thing we need is more of the Carnach’s chicanery by turning our staff against us.”


“Good idea. So what did you have in mind – Honey flavored ice cream with Seraphim blood topping for everyone?” Manda asked with a hint of sarcasm.


“Exactly right!” Sophia replied. “So I’ll have the kitchen make more ice cream and then we give it out to everyone and that threat goes away.”


“You know... It just might work.”


“We’ll know soon enough,” Sophia replied.


“So what was the other thing you wanted to ask me about?” Manda asked.


“I had a nightmare.” Sophia said.


“A nightmare? Unlikely, as Seraphim do not have nightmares...” Manda replied.


“Really? Then what would you call it? I fell asleep. I found myself in the main hall, sitting on my chair, wearing nothing but a nightgown. A large, very threatening man wearing strange armor came into the hall, walked up to me, pulled a sword and likely chopped my head off.” Sophia said. “I’m not exactly sure what happened as I woke up about the time the sword would have landed. I woke up, my heart was racing out of control and I was soaked in sweat.”


“Hmmm... If it was anyone else – someone who wasn’t a Seraphim, I’d say that was a nightmare. But since you are, I don’t know. Yet.” Manda replied. “Did this figure look familiar to you in any way?”


“Not exactly. The face reminded me of an image my helmet showed me of a male Seraphim.”


“A male Seraphim? Sophia, there aren’t any such things.”


“I know. But do you know why? Because the Creator himself abandoned trying to make them.”


“Did he now? Why?”


“Because they turned out to be too unstable and dangerous.” Sophia replied.


“I see. That really is too bad.” Manda replied.


“It was for the best. The helmet showed me an image of what one would have looked like. The face was...” Sophia paused, at a momentary loss for words, “... pure evil.”


“Maybe so, but males of most species tend to be stronger than the females. Given some of the fights we’ve been involved in over the centuries, I kind of wonder how much easier they might have been if a male Seraphim were involved.” Manda responded in a clinical manner.


“Maybe so, but the image I saw in that bad dream... I kind of wish I could show you. Maybe then you would understand.”


The helmet chimed in... “Playback is possible.”


“It is?” Sophia thought. “How?”


“There is a holographic terminal located in the center of the main hall...”


“Why am I only now finding out about this?” Sophia thought.


“Accessing... Unknown. This feature has been in disuse for a very long time.”


“Come with me. My helmet seems to think there’s a way to show you what I saw.” Sophia said aloud.


Manda followed Sophia to the main hall.


“We’re now in the main hall. Display the image.” Sophia thought.


A beam of light shot out from a gap between the stones similar to the one in TARA’s chamber in the library. An image began to coalesce in the beam. It was a tiny bit taller than a Seraphim, male. He was wearing the strange armor Sophia saw in her nightmare. The face was one of pure hatred. The eyes seemed to burn like coals.


Manda gasped slightly. “I see what you mean. If I saw him in a dream coming at me with a sword, I’d likely call it a nightmare as well. Maybe there’s some other significance to it?”


“Such as?” Sophia asked, her eyes closed.


“Well... If I didn’t know better, that armor looks kind of like it might be some sort of dragon design. What was it Orphas was worried about? That Torik might be infected by this Carnach’s evil and might manifest it?”


“Yes, that was what he said.” Sophia replied.


“Didn’t you touch the boy before you went to bed?”


“Why yes, I think I did.”


“Then maybe he was, in fact, infected and there may be some sort of psychic connection between the two of you.”


“So what you’re saying is that this might be a psychic projection of Torik – all grown up?” Sophia asked.


“Yup. That pretty much sums it up.” Manda replied.


“It’s that simple?”


“Why not? Your imagination combined your memories of that male Seraphim with the boy’s psychic projection and came up with one rather scary monster... Speaking of which, can you show me the male Seraphim?”


“Why would you want to see that?” Sophia asked.


“Call it morbid curiosity.”


“Display the male Seraphim image.” Sophia thought.


“Accessing... Do you want the two images displayed side by side?” the helmet responded.


“Yes.”


“Accessing...”


The column of light split in half. The one on the left remained the image from Sophia’s nightmare while the other formed into the image of the male Seraphim.


“See...” Manda lectured, “The faces are very similar. There’s even a common theme of sorts. Dragon hide armor over here, and wings on the other. Let’s not forget that Dragons are, in part, our forbearers.”


“Yes... I do see that.” Sophia replied. “It still changes nothing – they both creep me out!


“I must admit, both images are quite disturbing, but remember, one of them doesn’t exist while the other is far from becoming a reality.”


“I know what you’re saying is right. But they both fill me with such dread.”


“Then stop looking at them, Sophia,” Manda said.


“Shut down the display.” Sophia thought into the helmet.


“Accessing... Display terminated.”


The column of light faded into nothing.


“Feel better?” Manda asked.


“Not really.” Sophia replied. “I can’t seem to stop...”


Manda slapped Sophia across the face hard to interrupt her as she said, “Snap out of it!”


“Thanks... I think...” Sophia said as she massaged the sting on her face. “I think that worked.”


“Good. Now then, I’ve got patients to attend to and you’ve got a world to save.”


“You’re right,” Sophia said, “I don’t understand what got into me.”


“I’m not sure myself, but whatever it is, you’ll have to deal with it! Sophia, you’re the queen of the Seraphim. You’re one of the best warriors that have ever come up from the ranks. You don’t flinch in the face of danger! You don’t shudder in the presence of evil. Ever!”


“Manda, you’re right. I’ve got to get myself together.”


Orphas and Torik arrived in the main hall.


“Ah... There you are!” Orphas said. “I will need to get young Torik to bed. Not to mention this flagon of gravy to Loromir before it completely cools down.”


“Very well, but before you go, can I have a word with you in private?” Manda asked.


“Certainly. Torik, stay here with Auntie Sophia.” Orphas replied as he and Manda moved off to one side of the room.


“Can you spare a few moments and talk to Sophia tonight? Something’s happened to her. I think it may have been what you were talking about with her earlier.” Manda began.


“What happened?” Orphas asked.


Sophia had a nightmare. Mind you, Seraphim do not have nightmares.”


“What sort of nightmare?”


“It was an image of a Human or Elf in armor that looked as if it was inspired by a Dragon. The man was evil. Sophia said she was sitting on her seat over there. A man in armor came in and she was helpless to do much of anything about it. The man walked up to her and pulled a rather wicked looking sword and apparently tried to cut her head off.”


“Oh my, that would be quite a nasty dream to have.” Orphas confirmed. “But what makes you think it was young Torik that gave it to her?”


“Other than what you said earlier – about him being the reincarnation of your former master – who was under the control of the Carnach at the time of his death, and that you felt something evil buried in him, not much except that Sophia has had direct physical contact with the boy before the ice cream.”


“Hmm. Yes, well, that does sound at the very least plausible. I will have to check the boy out tonight. However, might I suggest you take her to see Loromir? You see, I too have had contact with the boy and in all honesty, I don’t know if I’ve been affected.”


“Very well, hopefully, Loromir will be able to fix the problem.” Manda concluded.

 

"As long as you're going to see him, could you take him this flagon of gravy?" Orphas asked.

 

 

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Hmm.. OK.. I see what you mean..

 

Edit 1: fixed - got rid of the 2nd instance of 'even'

Edit 2: fixed - changed to 'and cook it for a bit' Could have sworn that's what I wrote. Dag nab it.

Edit 3: fixed - changed it to 'I’ve gotten the stuff they were injected with out.'

Edit 4: fixed - added the comma back. Bloody Word didn't like it.

 

And it's quite all right to bring needed edits to my attention. Stuff like this happens when I try working on this when I'm half asleep.. Best nip them in the bud... The original posting has been fixed.

 

I suppose it also doesn't help that I'm using the Sacred fonts when I write instead of Arial or Times New Roman.

Edited by wolfie2kX
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Ok folks... This chapter was giving me a really hard time. Not so much because of length, but of content. It's a hole I kinda wrote myself into in the last chapter, but it's a necessary one - as will become apparent in a future installment. Finding the right way to dig myself out of it was a challenge but one I think I got a handle on now.

 

On the other hand, there's plenty of good stuff packed in the chapter - about the likely origins of the Seraphim... There's also a quite a bit on the subject of Curse Magic...

 

Enjoy..

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Seed of Doubt


Manda took Sophia and the flagon of gravy and they made their way to the northern island.


Loromir was lounging in the cavern having a conversation with Smitty and Karem.


“Greetings one and all,” Manda said. “I’m sorry if we’re interrupting anything important.”


“Och! No, yer not interrupting, Manda. We were just discussing some Dwarven philosophy.” Smitty replied. “What can we do fer ye?”


“Actually, I need to speak to Loromir for a moment, if that’s OK with you.” Manda replied.


“Well, go right ahead.” Smitty said.


“In private, if you don’t mind.” Manda replied.


“Och... Not a problem.” Smitty replied and he and Karem went off to another chamber in the cavern with Sophia.


Loromir meanwhile sniffed the air. “Something smells delicious.”


“Oh yes, Orphas wanted me to give this to you.” Manda said as she held the flagon out in front of her.


“What is it?” Loromir inquired.


“It’s called gravy.”


“Gravy, you say...” Loromir said as he inhaled deeply again.


“Yes. But that’s not why we came here - At least, not the only reason why.” Manda said.


“Oh?”


“It’s Sophia. She had a nightmare. Seraphim do not have nightmares and I suspect Torik may be at least, partially responsible for it.”


“Hmm. Whatever gave you that idea?” Loromir asked. “The child seems harmless enough.”


“First off, Orphas says the boy is the reincarnation of his former mentor who was under the Carnach’s thrall when he died. Secondly, the image Sophia saw in her dream was that of an adult man in armor that looks to have been inspired, at least, by Dragons. This man in armor walked up to Sophia in her dream, pulled a sword out and tried to cut her head off. Third, Orphas said he felt something evil buried deep in the boy... Fourth, Sophia had physical contact with the boy on at least one or two occasions before she gave him some ice cream laced with a drop of her blood.” Manda whispered. “She was able to display the image of the man in the armor by way of a display like the one in the library located in the main hall and since then she’s become completely rattled.


“You know, that is what I think I love most about your kind, little sister – you’re so thorough and logical in your deductions. I think I probably would have come to the same conclusion. Of course, I’ll do what I can.” Loromir laughed.


“Good - because I wouldn’t have a clue as to what to do. Cuts, scrapes, sword wounds, diseases, broken bones, poison – I can deal with but psychic attacks are beyond my expertise.”


“Just out of curiosity... Why did you come to me with this problem and not Orphas?”


“Orphas said he was worried that he might have been affected by the boy.”


“Well, let’s hope he’s not. My skills, as good as they are pale in comparison to Orphas when it comes to this sort of thing. If he’s been compromised, we’ve got problems.


“Sophia!” Loromir called out. “Come here, please.”


Sophia came back into the room and approached Loromir. He thought it rather odd that Sophia could walk up to him without any fear, given most people on Ancaria would likely be in need of fresh underwear in a similar situation...


Sophia stood before Loromir and he put a claw on her forehead. He closed his eyes and opened his mind and reached out to Sophia’s mind. He saw turmoil and fear. He reached deeper. He saw what appeared to be a young child of maybe six in Human or Elven terms. She was sitting, huddled with her arms around her knees.


“Sophia?” Loromir’s voice gently called to the child.


“Go away!” the child said.


“You know I can’t do that.” Loromir said.


“Go AWAY!” the child repeated.


Loromir looked at the surroundings in Sophia’s mind. There wasn’t much to see. There were four brick walls, a floor and ceiling. There was a large, closed wooden door.


“Sophia! I am here to protect you. Look, it’s me, Loromir.”


“Go away!” the child replied yet again.


Loromir tried the door. It seemed to be sealed and quite solid.


He backed off and gently removed himself from her mind.


“Fascinating...” Loromir said to Manda.


“What?”


“I looked inside her mind. She seems to think she’s a young child, maybe five or six years old. She’s stuck in a room without any windows. There’s a large wooden door that appears to be sealed and not much else in the room.”


“That makes no sense. Seraphim are always adults. We were never children.” Manda explained.


“Never children – how can that be?” Loromir asked, puzzled.


“I’m not entirely sure, but if I had to make an educated guess, it has to do with how the Creator created us. We were ‘born’ as adults.”


“I’m confused. How can you be never have a childhood?”


“It has to do with the memo Urisa’N TachYon wrote.” Orphas pondered. “Remember the one where we found the image of the Dragon and the Elf?”


“Yes, I recall. There was a lot of gibberish that made no sense to me.” Loromir replied.


“Can I see this memo?” Manda asked.


“It should be in Sophia’s pack.” Loromir said.


Manda opened Sophia’s pack and found the sheaf of papers and thumbed through them. She read the titles of the documents and found the untitled document.


She read the document over and said, “Hmmm. This makes sense, and yes, you’re right Orphas.”


“I was?” Orphas said.


“It says, ‘These warriors can be used in combat against the three-dimensional giant Worgarians as a replenishable battlefield resource.’ It would seem to me that if you were having a battle and needed to replace warriors quickly, having to wait a couple of decades for the next batch to be ready wouldn’t be very convenient. It would be better if you could mass produce them as quickly as possible.”


“I see your point.” Loromir replied.


“And there’s this part about ‘fiber-reinforced bone’ also supports that. Normal bones from other races tend to be very brittle compared to those of a Seraphim. Seraphim rarely ever break bones. I would imagine that the process used to do that fiber-reinforcing would require an adult skeletal structure.”


“Why would that be?”


“Elves and Humans tend to reach physical maturity when they’re about twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. Until that point, their skeletons are growing every so slowly. That would mean constant additional application of this fiber-reinforcing technology. And the process would have to be invasive – meaning the skin would have to be opened and the Seraphim would have all manner of scarring and that is something absent on any Seraphim who hasn’t been in combat. And once again, we still have the problem of normal growth taking decades.”


“I think I follow your reasoning.” Loromir worked hard to understand what Manda was explaining.


“Think of it this way. If I needed to physically get to one of your bones, I’d have to cut open your hide, move any muscles that were in the way, carefully cut tendons and other things attached to the bone and then do whatever I was going to do with the bone. And after that, I’d have to be able to reverse the process – reattach the tendons and then close the wound. And I’d have to repeat the process for each and every bone in the body. And then you would have to physically recover – which may take weeks.”


“I follow.” Loromir said, “It sounds fairly complicated.”


“It is and it would be quite painful as well.” Manda replied. “Therefore it would make the most sense is to grow the skeleton around the fiber-reinforcing material to an adult size, then add everything else – muscles, organs and so forth.”


“Hmmm. Yes, that would make the most sense.” Loromir replied. “But that still doesn’t explain what I saw in Sophia’s mind.”


“You got me on that one as well.” Manda said, “What did this room look like?”


“It was relatively dark and dank. The walls were made of stone brick. The door was made of thick wood...”


“No windows?” Manda asked.


“None. There was precious little else – except for the child in the room.”


“It sounds like more of a cellar or dungeon than a room.”


“I see.


“Er... If I may interrupt...” Smitty jumped in, “I kenna help but overhearing what yer talking about.”


“Go ahead Smitty, we’re at our wits end.” Manda replied.


“From the sound of it, neither of ye were ever children on THIS plane of existence. When I was just a wee lad and my brothers and sisters were scared, sometimes my mother would give them something they could hold onto... Something that’d give ‘em a sense of security and comfort...”


“Like what?” Manda asked.


“I had a stuffed boar cub as a toy – made from real boar hide, even. And when ye go in Loromir, How are ye appearing to the wee lass?”


“I appear as myself.”


“Och! No wonder the lass is scared half to death! If Sophia is retreating into a childhood she never had, she quite probably doesn’t remember you. And quite frankly, yer kinda big and scary.”


“HAHAHAHA! You know, you’re probably right about that, Smitty.” Loromir laughed. “It’s time for a kinder, gentler approach.”


Loromir stretched his claw and touched Sophia’s forehead and closed his eyes. He reached out and found Sophia in the same room, but this time he manifested himself as a man. And he conjured up a small wild boar piglet.


“Hello? Sophia?” Loromir said in a quiet voice.


“Go away!” the child replied.


“I brought you something.” Loromir said.


“Go away!” the child repeated.


“Look, it’s a stuffed wild boar.”


“I don’t want it!” the child said.


“Hmm. Progress?” Loromir thought to himself. “But it’s a magical stuffed wild boar,” he said to the child.


The child raised her head from her knees and briefly peeked at the stuffed animal. “I still don’t want it.”


“Are you sure about that? It’s quite a nice magical stuffed wild boar.” Loromir said, reassuringly.


“Yes, I’m sure!” the child replied, this time calmer by several orders of magnitude.


Loromir made a mental note to thank Smitty for his advice later. “But it’s a very powerful stuffed magic boar. It will protect you from anything scary.”


“Anything scary?” the child said.


“Yes, anything and everything scary.”


“Even Hagaul?” the child asked.


“Who or what is Hagaul?” Loromir asked.


“Hagaul is the bad man who is keeping me here,” the child replied.


“I don’t know this Hagaul, but yes, this magical stuffed wild boar will even protect you from him.”


“OK... Then, I’ll take it.”


“Good. You hold onto him then. Now you’re going to need to give him a name.”


“A name?” the child asked.


“Why yes, he’s going to need a name. How else are you going to ask him to protect you? You can’t just say ‘Hey you, protect me.’”


“I suppose that makes sense,” the child said.


“So what are you going to call him?” Loromir asked.


“Can I think about that for a bit?”


“Of course you can, but don’t think on it too long. I’ll be right back. Just hold on tight and think about a good name for your magical stuffed boar.


“OK... I’ll think about a name.”


Loromir withdrew once again. When he opened his eyes, he saw Manda, Smitty and even Karem sitting around watching everything.


“I think I made some progress. Smitty, your advice was spot on!” Loromir announced. She now has a magical stuffed wild boar to protect her.”


“I suppose that’s a good thing.” Manda said.


“There is one thing that puzzles me. Sophia, the child mentioned she was afraid of someone named Hagaul...”


Manda’s relatively pale skin went even paler. “Did you say ‘Hagaul’?”


“Yes... That was the name the child used.”


“Then this is far worse than I imagined.” Manda said.


“How so?” Loromir asked.


“A very long time ago, a very bad man named Hagaul kidnapped Sophia and kept her in a dungeon. He tortured her for about six months before she was rescued. While the physical damage was healed, the damage to her psyche was far more extensive. So much so, she got dosed with Millennium Weed. She forgot all of who and what she was – as well as all the pain and torture she went through – especially Hagaul...


“The recording I left myself with the cure for Millennium Weed cautioned that Sophia should never be given the cure – otherwise the shock to her psyche would be catastrophic.


“If she’s somehow remembering Hagaul, then the barrier surrounding Sophia’s old memories has been breached and that is not a good thing.”


“I see.” Loromir mulled.


“So what can we do now?” Smitty asked.


“The only solution I can think of would be to give Sophia another dose of Millennium Weed.” Manda replied.


“But that in and of itself is not a solution either if I understand the effects of Millennium Weed.” Loromir countered.


“No, it really isn’t a solution.”


“Forgive my ignorance, but what is this Millennium Weed?” Smitty asked.


“It’s a plant that only blooms once every thousand years. When ingested it has the effect of blocking all of your memories until you forget everything. And by everything, you’re a clean slate. No memories of how to grow food, how to eat, what to eat, and so on. You wind up starving to death,” Manda explained.


“Gads! Sounds like a horrible way to go.” Smitty said.


“It’s not so bad if there are enough people around you to care for you and reeducate you. Someone who has been dosed can recover in fifteen to twenty years,” Manda countered.


“Correct me if I’m wrong but Ancaria won’t exist in fifteen to twenty years if we kenna fix this and get Sophia back to normal.” Smitty said.


Orphas came flapping into the cavern for a landing.


“Stop what you’re doing!” Orphas said.


“Orphas! Glad to see you brother. We were just discussing what to do next.” Loromir greeted.


“Then all is not lost yet!” Orphas said.


“I’ve spent some time with the boy. I can now say he’s free and clear of the Carnach’s clutches with certainty. But his liberation did not come before his subconscious planted something within Sophia.”


“You figured it out?” Manda asked.


“Yes, I did. He somehow managed to use a rather esoteric Dragon Mage spell called ‘Seed of Doubt’. As the name suggests, the caster makes the victim doubt himself and his abilities. It starts out small but like any weed, it grows and spreads and the victim doubts himself even more and eventually winds up an utter failure. But I haven’t ever seen it work quite so quickly on anyone as on Sophia.”


“That’s probably because a normal Seraphim has no self doubt and is the epitome of confidence. We wouldn’t know how to cope with self doubt.” Manda replied. “Add to that, Sophia isn’t the average Seraphim. She’s been through a lot. And as we were just discussing, she’s been dosed with Millennium Weed at one point in her life. And whatever this seed of doubt thing is doing is breaking through the barriers to her past memories.”


“I see...” Orphas said.


“But it gets worse... The reason why Sophia got dosed with Millennium Weed all those years ago was because she was captured and tortured to the point of breaking. Should she recover those memories, she could easily have a complete mental breakdown.” Manda explained.


“Perhaps not.” Loromir jumped in. “When I was in contact with her mind, I gave Sophia something to help her cope. I gave her a stuffed wild boar.”


Orphas laughed, “HA! It figures you’d give her something so near and dear to your stomach.”


“Actually, it was my suggestion,” Smitty countered. “I had one as a child. My mum gave my brothers and sisters one when I was a wee lad – to help keep the nightmares and such at bay.”


“Yes, well, ahem, I still find the irony quite amusing,” Orphas replied. “At any rate, I need to meld with Sophia’s mind. I need to see how extensive the damage already is and if I can do anything to counter it.”


“Very well, brother, one thing before you do this – I went in and appeared to the child in Sophia as myself and she was quite afraid. I then appeared to her as a man and she was much less afraid.”


“Good idea... No sense scaring the child any more than necessary.” Orphas replied as he settled down in front of Sophia and extended a claw toward her forehead. As Loromir had done earlier, he closed his eyes and extended his mind toward Sophia.


He found the child kneeling on the floor, her arm around a large living wild boar that stood next to her, grunting. Somehow Sophia, the child managed to bring the stuffed animal to life.


Orphas manifested himself as a man in front of the child. “Peace, child, I mean you no harm.” He said to her.


“Go away!” the child said.


“Why do you want me gone, child?”


“Because.”


“That isn’t much of a reason.” Orphas pressed further.


“Because,” the child repeated.


Orphas realized he wasn’t going to get very far on that line of questioning. He looked around at the surroundings. The chamber was made of stone brick, relatively dark and dank and there was a large wooden door – as Loromir described. However, the door appeared to have several small holes. Orphas moved closer to investigate.


The holes seem to go through the door. There was nothing but darkness beyond. He touched the door; the wood seemed solid, but somewhat spongy. He pushed hard on the surface and his finger sank into the wood. He pulled away and it sprang back.


He moved a bit to examine the wall. Looking closer, there were a few holes in the mortar and in the stone itself as well. He also noticed there were patches in the wall – as if someone had done repairs to the mortar and stone. By the look of it, there were at least two or more repairs done to the walls. He knelt down and looked at the floor. There too were both holes and patches. Orphas assumed the ceiling would show the same treatment.


“Sophia, it’s not safe here for you.” Orphas said to the child.


“Who’s Sophia?” the child asked.


“Why, you are.”


“No, I’m not. I’m Sophie,” the child countered.


At least, he seemed to be making some progress. “Does it really matter? The point is, you’re not safe here,”


“Yes, it matters. I’m Sophie. NOT Sophia!” the child insisted.


“Very well, Sophie, you’re not safe here.”


“Of course I am. I have my wild boar to protect me,” the child countered.


Orphas turned his attention back to the wall. He tapped the stone with a finger. It was solid except for the holes. He touched the mortar – it too, was solid, though in some places there were signs of it crumbling to dust. Sophia’s dungeon wouldn’t last too much longer.


Orphas changed his focus once again. He now focused his attention on trying to find that which wasn’t part of Sophia’s psyche. Specifically he looked for the touch of Torik.


Nothing.


This puzzled Orphas. The boy admitted to Orphas that he was scared of Sophia. Which in and of itself was kind of odd given the Seraphim had a positive reputation and didn’t look all that scary - certainly not in the way a Dragon might frighten the daylights out of those who had never met one – or met one who was under the Carnach’s influence.


Add in the fact that there no one else who could have done it. The spell in question wasn’t one that was taught to the average Magic Clan Dragon. There was too much opportunity for misuse and abuse. Curse Magic was heavily frowned upon for the obvious reasons.


Curse Magic was a rather ugly branch of the magical arts. One that once cast often took on a life of its own. The Seed of Doubt spell was a prime example of this principle. Once planted the seed feeds on any fear, uncertainty and doubt, multiplies it and feeds it back to the victim in an endless cycle until the target loses every shred of self confidence and becomes unable to do anything.


Therefore only the most senior Dragon Mage of the Magic Clan would know the spell – and his most trusted acolyte and future replacement.


Perhaps that was where the answer lay. Orphas thought to himself that maybe he should be looking for his old master’s touch instead.


“Ah ha...” Orphas thought to himself as he located the seed and as he suspected, it had Master Eornok’s touch. He focused his inner sight on the source and found it, buried in the child. It figured.


Orphas decided to withdraw for a moment and collect his thoughts. He opened his eyes. He saw those around him were waiting anxiously for an update.


“I’ve found the problem.” Orphas said.


“Och! Well... That’s a good thing? Isn’t it?” Smitty said.


“It is and it isn’t.” Orphas replied. “It is as I feared. My former master’s touch is on the spell that’s causing Sophia’s problems.”


“And?” Smitty prompted.


“And it’s not so easy to counter this sort of spell. It’s a spell that feeds upon fear and doubt, amplifies it and feeds it back to the victim. It becomes a vicious cycle that ends when the victim dies.”


“Aye, that’s a problem. Isn’t there a means to neutralize it?”


“To be honest, I’m not sure. By the way, where’s Manda?”


“She said something about going to the hospital and would be back shortly.” Loromir said.


“Oh, that’s odd.” Orphas said. “I would have thought she would have stayed to support Sophia. In the mean time, I need to figure out how to remove the seed of doubt without doing damage to Sophia or dooming Ancaria to certain ruin.”


“How is she doing?” Loromir asked.


“The situation is deteriorating. The seed is growing and is tearing holes in the fabric of her prison – tiny little holes that appear to be getting bigger. The door which appears to started out as solid wood is now spongy. One solid blow and it will disintegrate. And that stuffed boar you gave Sophia now appears as a fully grown live animal.”


“It sounds quite dire, brother. What do you make of it?”


“Didn’t Manda say something about Sophia being locked in a dungeon?”


“Aye, she did. Someone named Hagaul, if I recall correctly.” Smitty added.


“In that case, I would venture the room Sophia is stuck in is a representation of that dungeon.”


“But didn’t Manda also say Sophia got dosed with Millennium Weed?” Smitty interrupted.


“Yes, she did. I would say some element of her consciousness is using the concept of that dungeon as a safe haven – even if she doesn’t know how or why. I would guess that during her incarceration, that dungeon was a safe haven between torture sessions – well, as safe a haven a dungeon could be under the circumstances.”


“That would tend to make sense, brother, but does it mean she fully remembers everything that happened to her there?” Loromir asked.


“I would imagine so. The images are there – even if she doesn’t quite know what happened.”


“So what are we going to do?” Smitty asked.


“We dose her with Millennium Weed.” Manda said as she entered the cavern.


“Under NO circumstances!” Orphas declared.


“She can’t handle the shock of remembering what she went through. If she does, she will be much worse off than she is now.” Manda countered.


“If she gets another dose, Ancaria will be without a leader. The Carnach will have won. You might as well openly surrender to him and let him have your world and all of the peoples you and the other Seraphim have sworn to protect! And from there, you might as well doom the rest of this universe as well.”


Manda stood silent, unable to come up with an answer to Orphas’ logic.


“Ex-excuse me...” a voice came from the entrance to the cave. Everyone turned to look – it was one of the runners from the main hall.


“What is it?” Manda nearly snapped at the young Elf.


“I’m sorry, but I have a message for Queen Sophia... But I can uh... come back later, if this isn’t convenient.”


“She’s somewhat indisposed at the moment. What’s the message?”


“The Volunteer Squad is here to see her,” the runner said.


“Hello!” another voice from behind the runner announced. Attention was diverted to the new voice – it was Testa, followed by Forens, Kuan, Lumen, and Kybele. Ker was the only one absent at the moment – likely for the best.


“We stopped by to see how things were going. And it appears we’ve come just in time.” Testa said.


“Indeed. I have heard of you and your group.” Loromir said. “From your reputation, you’re the smartest being on the planet. Perhaps you can offer a solution to the dilemma we face.”


“That would depend on what the problem was, but I’ll be sure to give it my best.” Testa said. “What seems to be the problem?”


“Sophia’s been cursed,” Orphas said, “It’s an ancient Dragon Mage curse my young protégé subconsciously let loose on her. He’s the reincarnation of my former master in the art of Dragon Magic. Part of him was still under the control of the Carnach. It is called ‘Seed of Doubt’ and it’s the type of curse that feeds upon itself.”


“That’s not an area of knowledge that I must admit I’m all that familiar with,” Testa said.


“Nor would I expect you to. The knowledge of this curse was never written down – at least, not in this world.”


“How does it work?” Forens asked, “Logically, if we knew how that, we might be able to counter it.”


“It’s rather simple and diabolical. A seed of self doubt is planted in the victim’s consciousness. The seed feeds on any doubt the victim might have about him/herself. It then feeds that doubt back to the victim, who then becomes more doubtful which in turn feeds the seed even more and the cycle begins again until the victim is paralyzed and can’t make a decision.”


“Sounds particularly nasty.” Kybele said. “How or why would you Dragons come up with such a thing?”


“We were in a state of cold war. It was something developed by my former master to be used in case our clan was attacked.”


“What’s a cold war?” Forens asked.


“It’s where there are two or more groups that are on the brink of a rather devastating war – where all sides have the ability to utterly destroy their opponents. So no one actually goes to war knowing that it would mean the end of everything.”


“BAH! Makes no real sense to develop weapons if you don’t use them.” Kuan added.


“It does if the weapon is meant to be a deterrent. The threat is enough to keep your enemy at bay.” Loromir responded.


“Gentlemen – and Dragons!” Forens interrupted. “We are getting off the topic of discussion. I’m going to guess that your cold war is no longer an issue with the Carnach being in control of most of your people.”


“True enough.” Loromir replied.


“Then the circumstance under which the weapon was derived is not important. What is important is the here and now.”


Kuan grunted.


“Indeed, you are most wise.” Orphas acknowledged. “We were trying to sort out how to save Sophia when you arrived.”


“What is the situation?” Forens asked.


“Sophia was dosed with Millennium Weed some time ago. We believe the image in her mind is that of a dungeon she was trapped in prior to her being dosed. The dungeon is slowly breaking down. The barrier that was the Millennium Weed is breaking down as the doubt in Sophia’s mind is growing.”


“I see and...?” Forens prompted.


“Manda has suggested that Sophia get another dose of Millennium Weed.”


“Millennium Weed is fairly nasty stuff,” Testa said, “Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t it remove all memories from a person who ingests it?”


“That is correct.” Loromir said. “And should Sophia become dosed again, that would make her completely unable to be the leader of the Seraphim and Ancaria for a very long time, perhaps permanently.”


“And that would be very bad for everyone on this planet.” Testa said, “Especially with the intelligence we’ve been able to gather in recent days.”


“So how does one counter this ‘Seed of Doubt’?” Forens asked.


“There isn’t any way to stop it.” Orphas replied. “At least, none that Master Eornok shared with me.”


“Of course there is.” Forens countered. “Let me ask you this – how do you build someone’s self confidence?”


“By praising them when they do something right.” Smitty jumped in, somewhat in awe of the company he was suddenly keeping. “Sophia was doing just that with me.”


“Indeed. That’s one way to do it.” Forens said. “But in this case that won’t work. Sophia appears to be quite immobile and unable to do anything praiseworthy. But she does have quite a lot of experience, perhaps she needs to be reminded of all of her achievements. Perhaps you could begin with the most recent accomplishments?”


“Hmmm. Interesting hypothesis. Counter the curse with it’s polar opposite... This might work.” Orphas said.


“Of course it will. It’s only logical.” Forens said.

  • Like! 1
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Applying logic to magic....especially curse magic. Neat!

 

Why not? Most things have a certain logic to them. And you've got to admit that something like that would be quite an effective psychic attack.

 

Just had another thought, is that something that could be used to help cure the effects of Millenium Weed?

 

No... Not so much... If you think about the side effects of the Seed of Doubt.

 

Besides, Manda already has the cure. It just takes time for it to work. It takes time to strip away the chemical bonds from the neurons they've bonded to inside the brain. The more chemical that gets ingested, the more time it takes to remove the plaque left by the substance.

 

The effects of Millennium Weed are physical. The Seed of Doubt is metaphysical.

 

Curiously enough, it would seem that remembering the past IS part of the cure for the Seed of Doubt.

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Today's installment finds Orphas at a crucial junction. He's gotta get rid of that Seed of Doubt thing from Sophia's mind...

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Kernel of Truth


Orphas touched Sophia’s mind once again. He found the child, Sophie sitting huddled again. The wild boar had grown yet again. This time it was the size of a large bear and it didn’t look happy to see him. Orphas stood his ground.


He looked around him. Things weren’t looking very promising. The walls appeared to be crumbling rather quickly. There were a few gaps in the walls now – and an inky blackness was all that was beyond.


“Sophie?” Orphas called out to the child.


Nothing. The child merely pulled her knees closer to her face and began rocking back and forth.


“Sophie, I know you can hear me,” he continued.


The floor beneath him lurched slightly towards the direction of the door. Strangely, while Orphas clearly felt the shift, the boar and Sophie didn’t seem to react as if they were immune to the tectonic shift.


“Sophie, we really need to talk, now!” Orphas said with a measure of impatience. He had good cause. He noticed part of the ceiling was missing. It seems to have slid off of the top of the dungeon into the nothingness.


If his theory was correct, the memory blockage of the Millennium Weed was eroding quickly. And if that were true – and Manda’s theory was also correct, Sophia must be going through a very intense shock.


“Sophia!” Orphas said with his most commanding voice.


Still nothing. Orphas decided he had to act while there was still time. He took a step forward. His foot felt as if it was stuck. He managed to pull it free and noticed his boot had left a rather deep impression in the stone. He had sunk into the stone. He squatted down and touched the floor. It felt spongy – much like the door had earlier.


He pulled his other foot free and took a step forward. He noticed each time he did, his shoes sank into the ground.


“Sophia! Talk to me!” Orphas called out.


Still no reaction from Sophie/Sophia, but the wild boar was getting quite livid with the sound of his voice and his approach. The floor lurched again – this time the floor developed a tilt toward the door. It was almost as if the room had suddenly decided to eject him as the lurching caused Orphas to take a big step to his left in the direction of the door. Fortunately, he managed to keep his footing, as it was. Another chunk of the roof vanished as it vanished upwards into the darkness.


“Sophia! Time is running out!” Orphas yelled.


The wild boar decided he had enough of Orphas’ voice. It squealed and charged him. Fortunately for Orphas, it was a wild boar – a species he hunted so he was able to dodge the charge with plenty of room to spare. Under normal circumstances, the boar could be a threat to him, but given the fact the boar was several times larger than normal, and several times slower, he had the advantage.


The boar circled around for a second charge. Orphas moved toward the door. The boar circled around for a second charge, conveniently lining up with the door. Once again, the boar squealed, announcing his charge as he started running at Orphas who waited until the last moment before diving out of the way. The boar noticed Orphas’ move but was unable to do much about it as his momentum carried him into the door. The door splintered easily as the boar became wedged into the door frame.


Orphas scrambled to his feet and got behind the boar and gave it a push. The boar squealed as the door frame and part of the surrounding wall crumbled as he went through.


Orphas took a deep breath. He turned toward Sophie/Sophia and noticed the walls surrounding the dungeon were crumbling away. The remaining roof of the dungeon vanished into nothingness. The floor space began to shrink as the stones beneath them crumbled and fell away. Orphas ran as fast as he could toward the child.


The stone beneath his feet crumbled away and Orphas slipped, almost falling away from Sophia. He took another breath and suddenly realized he was breathing. Breathing was good – it meant there was air – or a mentally conjured facsimile – surrounding them. And air meant he could do one thing no Seraphim, nor wild boar could do. He could fly!


Orphas wasted no time and transformed himself into his normal form and stretched his wings. He gave them a mighty flap and flew back toward Sophie/Sophia. He reached her just as the last few stones crumbled beneath the child and she fell directly into Orphas’ front arms.


“I’ve got you child.” Orphas said as he flapped for the both of them in near total darkness.


Orphas realized he didn’t have much in the way of time. The darkness was fairly overwhelming – even for Orphas. Without any spatial reference, it was quite challenging to figure out which way, if any was up.


Orphas thought for a moment on how to restore Sophia’s mind. He felt for it with his own – but the spark was faded to almost nothing. He touched the inner Sophia’s forehead with his free claw and whispered, “Remember your friends. You are not alone.”


The spark seemed to brighten slightly. “Remember your accomplishments, all the good you’ve done,” he continued.


The spark glowed brighter. “You are not a failure. Failures do not become leaders.”


The spark was now well on the way to recovery. “You must remember WHO YOU ARE!” Orphas said, giving Sophia a huge boost.


The spark suddenly got very bright. Sophia suddenly ceased being a child. She began to grow very rapidly into an adult. She pushed herself away from Orphas as wings began to sprout from her back – not the sort of wings a Seraphim would wear, nor the sort Dragons sport, but huge wings – like those of a huge bird.


Sophia’s inner being became transfigured into a being of pure light – as if a star suddenly burst into being.


Sophia merely said one word to Orphas – “LEAVE!”


With that, Orphas suddenly found himself kicked out of Sophia’s mind and found himself back in the real world. As he opened his eyes, he saw Sophia, who had been standing in front of him all this time, collapse to the ground.


“Sophia!” Manda and Karem said simultaneously as they rushed to her side.


“Brother!” Loromir exclaimed, “Did it work?”


“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure, but I think so.” Orphas replied. “Something most certainly happened while I was in there. But I’m not certain of the result. For that, only time will tell.”


“What happened?” Forens asked.


“When I entered, the dungeon she had conjured up was crumbling to dust. That boar of yours, brother, grew to the size of a bear! It attacked me so I had to dodge it and it went crashing through that wooden door. As her little world crumbled I transformed myself back into my normal form – which was a good thing. As the last of her dungeon crumbled, I caught the child in my forearms.


After which, I could sense her slipping away. I did my best to contact her mind. I told her to remember her friends, and her achievements, and who she was. Her inner self began to grow up rapidly and sprouted the most marvelous wings I’ve ever seen – white as snow and almost as big as my own. And she began to glow brightly. She said only one word to me – ‘leave!’ as I was kicked out of her mind. The rest you know.”


Manda was, meanwhile digging through her pack.


“I hope you’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re doing, Manda.” Forens said


“I’m doing what I know is right. If Sophia recovers her lost memories...” Manda replied.


“Then what?” Forens interrupted.


“She could have a major setback. She could remember what happened in that dungeon.” Manda replied.


“Somehow, I don’t think that will be a problem, Manda. Hold off on the Millennium Weed for now.”


“Very well... But if something bad happens...” Manda said.


Sophia began to recover consciousness, interrupting Manda’s declaration. “Unhh” Sophia groaned.


“Sophia! How are you?” Karem asked.


“Tired, like I’ve been in combat for a week straight...” Sophia replied.


“Not too surprising.” Orphas said. “You were, in fact, in a fight for your very existence.”


“I was?” Sophia asked, puzzled.


“Indeed.” Forens said, “In fact, it was a battle for the future of Ancaria. And it appears you have won – with the help of Orphas...”


“That’s good then. In the mean time, I really need some sleep.” Sophia said.


“Take her to her quarters and help her get some rest.” Forens said. “We can come back later for what we need to discuss. We will need Sophia to be at her sharpest for that conversation.”


Manda and Karem each picked up Sophia and helped her walk home.


“In the mean time, you should all get some rest. There’s a storm coming. What happened here tonight is merely the beginning.” Forens concluded. “We’ll be back soon.”


The Volunteer Squad then left, leaving the Dragons and Smitty to rest.

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Yeah.. But booze and ice cream seldom solve any problems in real life. They only cause more. Alcoholism, obesity, diabetes... Need I say more?

 

At any rate, today we find the gang on the island gearing up the defenses. Sophia and Loromir on the move again - this time visiting a rather familiar location to those who have played through the far west reaches of Artamark - namely the cave featuring a nameless dragon guarding some rather interesting doors.

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Eisenstadt


Sophia and Loromir arrived at Smitty’s forge soon after and found Smitty and Karem working hard at a press, making more amulets.


“Greetings!” Sophia said.


“Greetings! Sophia! It’s good to see ye back on yer feet.” Smitty declared. “I see ye brought yer new armor. I take it you’d like me to put one of Orphas’ new charms on it.”


“That and I’ll need one for this old thing as well. And I’m going to Eisenstadt to get those parts you need.” Sophia amended.


“Och! Good! Now then, I presume you’d like me to work on the new armor first.”


“I suppose that would be easiest.” Sophia replied.


“I only need the chest plate for the time being.” Smitty said.


Sophia handed him the item in question and Smitty set it down and opened the chest plate. He picked up one of the amulets from a sizeable pile on the table. He grabbed a wooden mallet with his other hand and positioned the amulet in one of the sockets he created and tapped it into place with the hammer.


“All done! Now then, I need the one yer wearing. Karem can show ye to a spot you can use to change.”


“Right this way, Sophia.” Karem directed. She led Sophia to a small alcove in the rock.


Sophia went inside and undid her armor, first removing the neck and shoulder guards followed the wings and lastly, by the chest plate. She handed that to Karem who was waiting outside of the alcove. She took a look at the new chest plate. It seemed odd, but she took it in stride. She put the new chest plate on and secured it. Amazingly it fit perfectly.


Sophia stepped out of the alcove and walked back to where Smitty was examining her chest plate.


“Och! I think we’ve got a problem.” Smitty said.


“What sort of problem?” Sophia asked.


“The armor I forged for you – I made it so there would be places to add enchantment trinkets like these, but this one has no place for such things.”


“So that means?” Sophia asked.


“It means it’ll take a while longer to get it done than I originally thought. Bloody substandard craftsmanship if ye ask me.”


“How much longer?”


“Half a day, at the very least.” Smitty replied.


“That won’t do. We need those parts.”


“Aye, yer right about that.” Smitty said. “Not to worry. For now, you can wear one of these amulets on a chain.” Smitty handed Sophia the armor and picked up an amulet and a leather strap. He threaded the strap through the eyelet on the charm and handed it to Sophia.


Sophia then went back to the alcove to remove the new armor. It certainly felt comfortable, something she was looking forward to wearing. She quickly got into her old faithful armor and tied the amulet around her neck. She grabbed the new chest plate and left the alcove.


“Orphas! Torik! Greetings!” Sophia called as she got back to the area Smitty was working in.


“Greetings, Sophia!” Orphas replied. “I hear you tried on Smitty’s armor. Good. We will need to sit down and discuss what other enhancements to add to your armor – but that will have to wait.”


“It sure looks that way – it’s always something.” Sophia replied with a sigh.


“Indeed. But in the mean time young master Torik has something to say to you.” Orphas said as he gave his charge a slight nudge in the back.


“I’m sorry, Auntie Sophia.” Torik said.


“It’s OK, Torik; Things have a way of working out for the best.” Sophia said.


“That’s awful forgiving of you Sophia,” Smitty said.


“Maybe so, but look at it this way: In his previous life, Torik was under the Carnach’s thrall. As such, it is entirely possible that he could have shared the Seed of Doubt spell with the Carnach. Because of this attack, we now have two things we didn’t have last week – these amulets and a countermeasure to help anyone who gets hit with it.” Sophia explained.


“I see yer point,” Smitty said, “Provided, of course, we get one of these amulets on everyone’s armor.”


“Very true. Oh... And I just had a thought. How many more of these amulets can you two make?”


“As many as need be, I suppose.” Smitty said.


“I want one made for everyone on Seraphim Island. I figure that’s what – an extra few thousand?”


“I suppose – but that would set us back on the sprayers.”


“I know and we’ll do what we can to make it up to the lumberjacks. Now then, speaking of the sprayers... What do I need to do to get those parts?”


“Och. Well, you need to go to the market near the gates of Eisenstadt. You’ll need to find Greejoh. He’s the only Dwarf to have anything to do with me after my banishment. We grew up together as friends. You’ll need to ask him for 20 number five one way valves and you’ll pay him whatever he asks – within reason, of course. He’ll try to bump the price up to about twice what they’re worth. So do haggle him down a bit.” Smitty directed.


“OK... So what’s plan B?” Sophia asked.


“Er... Plan B?” Smitty asked.


“Yes, what if he’s no longer there in Eisenstadt? Who do I see if he isn’t there, or can’t get them?” Sophia asked.


“That would be a problem. I kenna say who else would be there that would be trustworthy.”


“Oh well. 20 number five one way valves. I’ll figure it out if Greejoh isn’t available.” Sophia concluded. “We’ll be back!”


Sophia and Loromir left the cavern and made their way down the path to the portal. Sophia set the portal for the Grunwald portal and they stepped through.


---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


Sophia and Loromir arrived at the Grunwald portal in the north end of the forest and headed south toward the entrance to Eisenstadt.


The Grunwald region was once under dispute between the Dwarves and Humans. The Dwarves felt the forest should be theirs – there were, after all, plenty of resources they could exploit. The Humans felt it should be theirs mainly on the principle that Dwarves mainly lived in caves and they needed land for hunting, farming and such. Since both parties had at least a fairly decent claim on the area, the Seraphim declared to be neutral territory – belonging to neither.


In the centuries following, the Dwarves and Humans made peace – at least so far as Grunwald was concerned. In fact, the Dwarves and Humans had formed a cooperative venture when it came to harvesting the resources of Grunwald’s forests.


The Dwarven city of Eisenstadt – or Iron City – was an important Dwarven asset. There were significant deposits of iron and other metals and minerals in the ground surrounding the city. It’s proximity to the Human territory of Artamark also increased it’s importance as a trading post that translated their raw materials and other goods into hard currency – and lots of it.


There are three things that can be said of the Dwarven species – they make the best miners, they make the best craftsmen – both in metal and woodworking and they made the most cunning merchants.


“Sophia,” Loromir began, “So how are you feeling?”


“I’m fine, Loromir. In fact, I haven’t felt quite as well rested in a very long time.” Sophia replied.


“I’m happy to hear that. You had me and a lot of others quite worried. Orphas was quite beside himself trying to sort out how to counter that curse.”


“I know. Manda and Karem were both at my door when I got up. They grilled me quite thoroughly about how I was feeling and I’ll tell you what I told them – I’m better than I’ve been for a very long time.”


“Manda was quite worried about some of your memories.” Loromir said.


“I know what she’s worried about and I remember the incident she is worried about. While it was a very unpleasant situation and I suffered an immense amount of physical and mental pain, I am no longer the affected by it. Her worries are moot.” Sophia replied.


“You actually remember – everything about it?” Loromir said with astonishment.


“Yes. I do. In fact, I’ll wager I remember more about it than she does.” Sophia countered.


“Forgive me if I seem a bit confused, but Manda said that if you remembered that incident, you would have a mental breakdown.”


“If I had remembered the incident any other way than through what Orphas did, I probably would have. But Orphas did something for me that Manda’s potion alone couldn’t ever do. He gave me perspective. I am much more confident now than I’ve ever been. I can see all of my accomplishments for what they are and I can remember all of my friends – those living and long turned to dust. I’ve lived a very long and good life. I have nothing to be ashamed of.”


“I’ve got to hand it to Orphas; he’s quite brilliant – even if he doesn’t think that much of his powers. In one fell swoop, he’s beaten his former master’s most devastating weapon.”


“Indeed. We’ll have to tell him as much when we’re done here.” Sophia said as she turned off the path to the slight incline leading to the entrance to the market of Eisenstadt.


As with most things Dwarven, their architecture is quite imposing. The entrance of the cavern was a huge rectangular opening. The final portion of the entryway had a few steps carved into the rock – in true Dwarven style. Beyond the entryway, there was a huge cavern that was mostly unadorned. A few slits cut into the rocks above allowed natural sunlight to filter in and illuminate everything. In the far side of the cavern, there were two rather imposing doors. These led to the actual city of Eisenstadt which was off limits to non-Dwarven races.


The Dwarves weren’t xenophobes by any stretch. They didn’t hate the other races of Ancaria. That would have been quite foolish as much of the Dwarven income depended on sales of their merchandise to those other races. The actual truth was – the Dwarves were properly greedy. They could not bear the thought of having outsiders poking around in their mines and potentially pilfering some of their raw materials – not even if the material was in abundance and more than they could ever use in a hundred lifetimes. By controlling how much of a given resource was available, they controlled the price of that commodity and could inflate the price as much as they dared.


“I love this cavern.” Loromir said. “I could live here quite comfortably.”


“I’ll bet.” Sophia said. “It certainly would be big enough.”


“Indeed. So how do we find our contact?” Loromir asked.


“Good question. I suppose we’ll just have to ask someone.”


The people in the cavern took notice of Sophia and Loromir. Some looked at them as if they’d just arrived from another dimension. Others shrugged the sight of a Seraphim in their midst as if it was an every day occurrence. A few turned away as if they had something to hide.


“Um... Sophia...”


“Yes?” Sophia said as she turned to Loromir. “What is it?”


“I’ve got a really bad feeling about this place.”


“How bad?” Sophia asked.


“Worse than Ciria Delith.”


“I see. That bad.” Sophia said as she checked to make sure her favorite blades were at the ready.


“There do seem to be a few lighter spots but the vast majority of the people here are quite dark. Not as dark, mind you as certain acquaintances of ours, but what lies beyond those doors is nearly as bad,” he said.


“OK. Well, we came to get some parts. Who here is the brightest of the lot? We’ll start with that person.”


“It would seem that person of interest is on their way toward us.”


“Good. We’ll wait here then.”


“Greetings!” the Dwarf approaching them called out.


“Greetings!” Sophia replied. “I am Sallah from Seraphim Island.”


“I am Krallt, merchant extraordinaire. How may Eisenstadt serve you?” he said.


“We were sent here to get some spare parts and were told to contact someone named Greejoh.”


“Eh... Greejoh, you say... I haven’t heard that name in a very long time. Last I heard, he was, at one point involved in some hush-hush project in our southern lands, something to do with T-Energy. Haven’t heard or seen of him since. That’s been a good nine or ten years now.” Krallt explained.


“I see. Well, that’s not good. Maybe you can still help. I’m looking for some parts. It seems we have some equipment in need of repair and I was sent here because we need number 5 one way valves to fix them.”


“I see.” Krallt’s expression darkened a bit. Those are quite old and hard to come by. How many of them do you need?”


“Twenty or so, better make it twenty-five – just in case we need spares later – on especially if they’re hard to come by.”


“A wise choice, I’ll have to check with my suppliers to see if they still carry them. I’ll be back shortly.” Krallt said as he turned and went beyond the doors.


“Sallah?” Loromir asked skeptically.


“Yes.” Sophia replied with confidence. Loromir took it for what it was worth. There was method to Sophia’s apparent madness. He didn’t exactly trust this Krallt individual, but given the contact they were supposed to meet wasn’t available, it was better than nothing.


Krallt returned shortly after. “Sorry for the delay... Number fives you said, right?”


“Yes.” Sophia replied.


“My suppliers have the twenty you need, but no more.” Krallt said. “The part is obsolete and they’ve been replaced with the number five-A model.” He produced samples of each part.


“Hmm... Those two don’t look anything like each other.” Sophia commented.


“True. The Five-A is a newer, more efficient design.”


“Very well, Give me the twenty of the older number fives and one of the new five-A’s. How much for the lot?”


“Let me see. Twenty times fifty Gold, plus one more at one hundred Gold. That’s eleven-hundred Gold.”


“I’ll be glad to pay an even one thousand Gold.” Sophia countered.


“Ten-Fifty” Krallt countered Sophia’s counter offer.


“Ten-Twenty-Five and not a shard more.” Sophia offered.


Krallt thought hard for a moment. “Very well, Ten-twenty-five it is. You drive a hard bargain, Sallah. Are you sure there aren’t any Dwarves in your lineage?”


“Oh, I’m very sure.” Sophia said, laughing.


“I’ll be right back with your merchandise.” Krallt said and turned and went beyond the doorway into the city.


Sophia opened her coin purse and counted out the Gold pieces needed to pay for the parts.


A few moments later, Krallt returned again with a small box. “That’ll be one-thousand-twenty-five gold.”


“Here you go.” Sophia handed him the pile of Gold she just counted out.


“And here you go, Sallah,” Krallt said as he handed Sophia the box. “My suppliers and I thank you for your patronage.”


“And I thank you for the parts.” Sophia replied in the customary conclusion to any business deal with Dwarves.


“I see you’re well versed in Dwarven sales techniques.” Krallt said.


“Yes, well, I’m far older than I look and have been around for a very long time. You tend to pick things up here and there.” Sophia said.


“I see. Well, I have other customers waiting - deals to make. I do wish you well.”


“And I wish you well also.” Sophia replied as she and Loromir turned to leave the marketplace.


When they were outside and out of earshot, Loromir said, “Am I the only one that feels this was far too easy?”


“Not at all, but given we don’t know much about the part itself, and how it’s supposed to function, we’ll have to rely on Smitty’s expertise. So back to the Island we go.”


“I suggest we move quickly – just in case.” Loromir admonished.


“Agreed.” Sophia replied as she and Loromir double-timed it back to the portal, which Sophia activated and set it for the Island.


Sophia and Loromir stepped through and arrived back on the island.

Edited by wolfie2kX
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I can't wait to see what happens next.

 

One typo that I found. You need to delete either the word landed or the word arrived in the second sentence from the quote below.

 

"The people in the cavern took notice of Sophia and Loromir. Some looked at them as if they’d just landed arrived from another dimension. Others shrugged the sight of a Seraphim in their midst as if it was an every day occurrence. A few turned away as if they had something to hide."

Edited by Ysne58
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Today, we've got a double feature. The first part is pretty short, so I saved it until I got the next chapter done. So here we go...

 

We find Smitty getting suspicious... and we find Sophia getting downright pissy with some Dwarves. Not that they haven't earned it. :D

 

Enjoy...!

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Ye Kenna Fool a Dwarf!


“Bloody incompetence!” Smitty exclaimed with a fury Sophia hadn’t seen from a Dwarf in a very long time. “These are the wrong parts! Bloody two bit con artists!”


“I’m sorry, Smitty. We did our best.” Sophia said.


“I know, it’s not you I’m upset with. If anything I’m upset with myself for not providing you with at least a drawing of the bloody part I need. At least, you would have saved yourself a trip back to Eisenstadt.”


“Smitty... Calm down! You’ve been quite busy – and I am partially to blame – I put an extra burden on you to get even more of those amulets made and distributed to everyone on the island. My little three day nap certainly didn’t help much either.”


“Aye, it didn’t, but I should have figured out a plan B. Better still, I should have gone and did the buying myself.”


“You know, you’re right. We really need to do something about that little ‘curse’ of yours...” Sophia declared. “And it’s high time it got done.”


“Ye kenna do anything about it, Sophia.” Smitty replied.


“Smitty, you’ve been here long enough to know better!” Sophia smiled. “If I can beat the ‘ultimate’ Magic Clan curse, I think we can figure out how to beat anything your father dealt you. Somehow I think Orphas’ former master has your father beat hands down when it comes to laying on curses.”


“Aye, you’ve got a point there. Dragon curses are much more lethal than Dwarven curses. But Dwarven curses hit us where it hurts us the most. Those cursed by Dwarven curses kenna do any more legitimate business and we might as well be dead to our own community. Did ye know I was once engaged to be married?”


“No, Smitty, I didn’t know.” Sophia said with sympathy. “What happened?”


“When my father put the curse on me, her father married her off to someone else. He would not have his pride and joy cursed as well.”


“I’m sorry to hear that Smitty. We might not be able to do anything about your situation, but we WILL put a stop to this nonsense!” Sophia declared.


“Tis just as well.” Smitty added, “the woman was a bit of a shrew.”


“Greetings everyone!” Manda said as she arrived, carrying a tray of ice cream. “Hurry up and get some ice cream before it all melts!”


“Greetings Manda!” Sophia returned the greeting. “Honey flavored?”


“Of course! What else?”


“Oh... I don’t know, Could be something exotic – like cocoa root from the far reaches on the eastern continent. Or maybe sloe berries, or for that matter strawberry.”


“Hmm... You’re right. It could have been any of those, but it’s just honey.”


“Works for me.” Sophia said. “Let me help you with that.”


“No... It’s all right. I’ve got it.” Manda said as she made the rounds of everyone in the cavern – Loromir and Orphas, Torik, Smitty, Karem, and Sophia. She kept the last one for herself.


“Orphas! You know something brother?”


“What, brother?”


“I think this would be something Bethusela would like.”


“HA! You’re probably right about that.” Orphas said as everyone except Torik, Smitty and Karem had a laugh.


“Though I wonder what this would taste like if it was made from gravy.” Orphas added.


Everyone except for Smitty laughed. Smitty was too busy sniffing at the cup holding his treat.


“Exactly what do you have in here, Manda?” Smitty asked.


“It’s made from honey, milk, cream, and beet sweetener. Eat it while it’s still cold.”


“Seriously, Manda. Ye kenna fool a Dwarf’s nose. Our nostrils are highly prized all over Ancaria for its keen ability to find anything by smell. I could have told you there was milk, cream, honey and beet sweetener in this, but there’s something else in this ice cream.”


“Whatever do you mean?” Sophia asked.


“I dunno what it is – but it smells kind of like blood.” Smitty replied. “Which is odd given I don’t see anything red in my cup.”


Sophia and Manda looked at each other. Sophia decided to come clean. “There is. It’s a drop of Seraphim blood.”


“Excuse me?” Smitty said as he put his cup down and backed away from it.


“Smitty, settle down. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Let me explain. We Seraphim have a secret, one we must keep secret at all costs. You see, Seraphim blood has the ability to purge evil from anyone who gets a taste of it. It also has the ability to prevent evil from ever taking root.”


Smitty looked skeptical.


“As you’ve probably heard, there is an immense evil invading Ancaria known as the Carnach. Loromir and Orphas were part of the Carnach’s invading forces. They’d both still be part of the Carnach’s forces if Loromir didn’t serendipitously bite Maria and she bled into his mouth.”


Smitty’s skepticism turned to fear. “Ye mean to tell me he killed Maria!”


“Yes, he did, and in a way it was a good thing he did. I’m sorry to say, but we’ve made more progress understanding the Carnach and his machinations since he bit her than we did in the previous decade since they invaded our world. And Loromir helped us liberate Orphas from the Carnach’s clutches. And without him, where would we be? I’d certainly be dead twice over by now.”


Smitty’s fear abated but his skepticism returned. “Aye, this much is true.”


“And don’t forget, Smitty, Loromir found you as well. Where would you be now if you stayed in Ciria Delith?”


“I’d still be eking out a living there.” Smitty replied.


“And isn’t your life better now than it was back then? You’ve got a workshop where you can work, food to eat, friends who have your back.”


“Aye,” Smitty replied. “But it’s still not complete.”


“True enough, but we’re not done yet. Not by far. Now think of how big a blow it would be to our cause if you were turned to the Carnach’s side? Who would make those amulets for us if you were gone? Or the sprayers? And who would finish my armor?”


“Aye, that wouldn’t be very good at all.” Smitty capitulated.


“Right! So eat your ice cream!” Sophia finished.


“Och... Very well.” Smitty said and grabbed his cup and drank the now mostly melted ice cream in one gulp.


“So how do we know it worked?” Smitty asked. “I don’t feel any different.”


“Nor should you.” Loromir interrupted. “Your aura was free of the dark taint.”


“So...”


“So, we mean to keep it that way!” Sophia said.


“Don’t feel bad, Smitty, all non-Seraphim inhabitants of the island are getting the same treatment,” Manda said.


“Only non-Seraphim?” Smitty suddenly felt incensed.


“Um... Yes, Smitty, only those on the island who aren’t Seraphim.” Manda repeated.


“Oh... Right.” Smitty replied as it dawned on him that Seraphim already had their own supply of Seraphim blood – and therefore consuming some would be quite moot.


“Fine. So what do we do about my father and his cronies? Will this Seraphim blood treatment work on him as well?”


“It should.” Sophia replied “Just as it did on our three Dragon friends – Loromir, Orphas and Bethusela.”


“Good. In the meantime, we really need to get these sprayers done. Give me a moment. Now where did I put my sketch pad?” Smitty said.


“It’s right over here, Smitty,” Karem said as she pulled it out from under a pile of amulets.


“Och yes. Now give me a few moments to draw out what a proper number five one way valve looks like.”

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


Shortly after, Smitty handed a sheet of paper to Sophia.


“Now this is what the bloody things should look like. And they should be common as dirt. Whoever this Krallt is was blowin’ smoke up yer skirt when he told ye they don’t make them any more.”


Sophia took a look at the sketch and indeed, the part he drew bore no resemblance to the parts she and Loromir got earlier.


“OK. And how much should these number fives cost?” Sophia asked.


“Och... It shouldn’t cost more than ten Gold a piece. Though, I haven’t been to the Eisenstadt market in years. The most you should have to pay for them is fifteen at the very most.”


“Very well, I’ll be back shortly.” Sophia said. “Loromir, are you coming with me?”


“Ha! I wouldn’t miss this for all the gravy in the kitchen!” Loromir said.


“Good. Let’s get going then.” Sophia said as she and Loromir departed for the portal.

 

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Fool Me Once…


Sophia and Loromir arrived at the Eisenstadt gate soon thereafter. The marketplace was winding down. A few of the booths were already closed for the evening.


“Be on the lookout for our friend Krallt.” Sophia said.


“I am already looking but I haven’t seen any trace of him as yet.” Loromir replied.


“Let’s go.” Sophia said as she and Loromir went deeper into the market. Once again, eyes were focused on the pair as they walked through the market, some discretely, while others weren’t.


The various booths had a wide variety of items for sale. Some were selling axes and other weapons; some were selling various parts for things Sophia had no idea about. Some appeared to be selling armor or at least had the trappings for making armor.


A Dwarf walked up to Sophia “Greetings! Welcome to Eisenstadt! How may I help you?”


“Greetings. My name is Sallah and I’m looking for two things. I’m looking to buy some parts for some machinery on the Island. And I’m looking for someone named Krallt...


“What sort of parts did you have in mind?” the Dwarf said.


“Number Five One-Way valves. Twenty of them.” Sophia said.


“Ah... You’d be looking for Greejoh. He’s the only one who deals with that sort of thing,” the Dwarf said. “Not Krallt.”


“Greejoh is here?” Sophia said.


“Of course he is. Where else would he be?” the Dwarf replied.


“Krallt told me earlier today that he was gone. Off to work on some project in the south.”


“Bah! Krallt is a lying sack of bat dung! Come with me! I will take you to Greejoh,” the Dwarf directed as he moved between two booths to the next aisle and took off toward the deepest part of the cavern. Sophia and Loromir followed close behind.


The Dwarf stopped in front of a booth and waited for Sophia and Loromir to catch up. “Here is Greejoh’s booth. Now, how about a finder’s fee for my helping you find him?”


Sophia smiled. “And how big a finder’s fee did you have in mind?”


“Och... How about those pretty swords you’ve got there?” the Dwarf said.


“They’re not for sale.” Sophia replied. “They’re my favorite set.”


“Surely you’ve got more swords that are just as nice,” the Dwarf insisted as he pulled a rather wicked looking axe from its sheath in a rather threatening manner. “Give them to me and I may let you live.”


“How about you leave and not bother me any more before I show you the business end of my blades?” Sophia countered as she stopped smiling as she had both swords out in a flash pointing at the Dwarf’s eyes.


The Dwarf suddenly lost interest in the swords as he saw Sophia was quite serious about keeping them and backed away and suddenly got lost in the crowd.


“Uh... Sallah...” Loromir said.


“Huh?” Sophia said.


“The booth he took us to – it’s empty.”


“It figures. Any sign of our friend?”


“No... His aura blends in with the rest of the people here. No sign of Krallt’s aura either.”


“We’ll wait here. It seems quiet for the moment. The foot traffic in this part of the marketplace is rather light.” Sophia observed.


“I think I sense our friend, Krallt.” Loromir said a moment later. “He is coming from deep inside the city.”


“Good. Let’s keep an eye on where he goes.” Sophia said.


“He’s through the city doors and walking toward the front of the cavern, maybe to greet some unsuspecting visitors.”


“Let’s move forward then.” Sophia said as she moved toward the front of the cavern on a parallel aisle.


“He’s heading for the exit.” Loromir said as Sophia decided to cut across to the same aisle as the one Krallt was using. She pulled a small dagger from her belt as she spotted her quarry.


Sophia caught up with Krallt just as he reached the exit, put a hand on his shoulder and swung Krallt around and in one fell swoop had the small dagger to his neck.


“My dear friend, Krallt... How nice to see you again.” Sophia smiled. Loromir had meanwhile silently wished he had something to snack on, perhaps a flagon of gravy as he stood by and watched the unfolding events with keen interest.


“Why... Hello, Sallah,” Krallt said with a note of resignation, knowing he had been caught.


“We have some unfinished business, my friend. It seems you owe me a few things.” Sophia said.


“I-I-I do?” Krallt stammered.


“Indeed. First you owe me an apology. Secondly, you owe me one thousand and twenty five Gold. And third, you owe me some parts – real number five one way valves, this time.”


“Er... What do you mean by ‘real number five one way valves’?”


“Why, it’s rather simple, my friend. My mechanic told me that the part you sold me was not a number five one way valve. Secondly, he tells me that the number five valve is common as dirt. Third, he told me that they should be selling for ten, maybe fifteen Gold – tops.”


“O-OK... I may have inflated the price just a tad... But as far as I know, those were genuine number five one way valves.” Krallt said, attempting to soothe Sophia.


“I also have it on somewhat reliable authority that you are – and I quote - ‘a lying sack of bat dung’ and that Greejoh is still working here in Eisenstadt market. This tells me that you’re not a Dwarf to be trusted. So why shouldn’t I rip you apart right here and now?”


“B-b-because I don’t have that much Gold on me.” Krallt said. “I-I spent some of it. And I can still maybe get you the parts you need.”


“Did you now... And why should I believe you?” Sophia asked as she pressed the side of her blade harder up against Krallt’s throat.


“O-OK... I lied. I admit it.”


“Good. Now we’re off to a start.”


“I-I know where Greejoh is. I can take you to him.” Krallt dissembled.


“Better.”


“I-I’ll buy the parts you need directly from him.


“Better. And...?”


“And I’ll give you back whatever Gold I have left afterwards.”


“Very good. Now, then, march!” Sophia ordered with such a commanding authority that even Loromir’s hair stood on end.


Krallt walked back toward the various stalls and booths of the market, this time moving toward the right flank of the market. Sophia and Loromir followed close behind.


Krallt suddenly stopped at a nondescript booth. “Greejoh! He called.”


An older Dwarf came waddling out from behind a hanging curtain. “Yeah... What do you want?” he said with a huge measure of irritability.


“You got customers.” Krallt replied.


“Hmph. Customers you say?” Greejoh said.


“Yes. We need twenty number 5 one way valves,” Sophia interrupted. “And this misbegotten grifter is going to be paying for them.”


“HA! How is Smitty doing these days?” Greejoh asked.


“Uh... Who’s Smitty?” Sophia replied as if she hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.


“Oh come now. You can’t pull the wool over my eyes. There’s only one Dwarf on Ancaria who would ever think to ask for that part.” Greejoh replied.


“I wouldn’t know – all I know is I was sent here to this market to get those parts. And the guy I’m getting them for is an Elf.”


“Yeah, right... Tell me another one.”


“Look, I’m not interested in debating this for the next day and a half. I have better things to do than to argue with you. So either you’ve got the parts, or you don’t.”


“Yeah... I got them. Twenty Gold each.” Greejoh offered.


“Fifteen.” Sophia countered his offer.


“Deal. Fifteen Gold each. I’m getting too old and tired to haggle. It’s been a long day.” Greejoh replied.


“Before you get paid, I’d like to see one. This lying sack of bat dung scammed me with a bunch of junk earlier today and I’d really rather not have to come back here.”


“I don’t blame ye.” Greejoh replied, noticing the blade at Krallt’s neck. “Give me a moment, I need to find them.” He disappeared behind the curtain.


Greejoh returned, moments later with a small box full of parts. He handed one to Sophia and said, “Here. I take it these are the parts you’re after.”


Sophia looked at the part and turned it around in her free hand. It certainly looked like the drawing Smitty gave her. “Very well. You, Bat dung. Pay the man.”


Krallt looked quite irked but pulled his money bag from his pocket. “That’s how much?”


“Three hundred Gold.” Greejoh said with a faint smile, clearly enjoying the way Sophia was treating Krallt.


Krallt opened up his bag and counted three hundred coins from his stash and passed them to Greejoh. There were maybe ten or so left in his bag.


Loromir collected the box with the parts.


“I thank you for your business.” Greejoh said with a smirk.


“And I thank you for yours,” Sophia replied. “Now then, march.” Sophia said to Krallt.


“Hey... I thought we had a deal!” Krallt said.


“We did until I saw what you had left in your purse – which is next to nothing compared to what I gave you earlier.”


“Uh... I had to pay some people off.” Krallt said.


“Yes, I’m sure you did. But I need a bit of satisfaction. So I’m turning you over to the guards.”


“Are you sure that’s wise?” Loromir interjected.


“What do you mean?” Sophia asked.


“I don’t think it would be a good idea to do that.” Loromir replied, “They would likely turn around and set him free just as soon as we left.”


“What did you have in mind?”


“Well, there is that prison you have on Seraphim Island and if memory serves me, there’s plenty of room there.”


Sophia smiled. “You’ve got a point there. Let’s go.”


Krallt led the procession to the exit of the cavern.


“Follow the path to the portal at Grunwald,” Sophia ordered, “and don’t get any ideas on escape. I have excellent skills with a throwing blade.”


“Y-yes...” Krallt replied and started marching north toward the portal.


A short while later, the group arrived without incident and Sophia dialed the portal on Seraphim Island. Moments later, the group arrived on the island.


“Greetings, my queen!” the guard stationed at the portal greeted Sophia and her party.


“Greetings. This smooth tongued miscreant needs to be checked into the prison. The charges are grifting, fraud and outright theft.”


“Yes, my queen. Will you be taking him up there yourself?”


“Yes, I think that would be for the best.”


“Now march!” Sophia said and Krallt started up the path.


“So you’re much more than Sallah, you are really Sophia.” Krallt said.


“Yes, I am. What of it?” Sophia replied.


“Just that you’re a fine one to talk about fraud, hiding behind a false name and all.”


“I have my reasons for doing so. You, on the other hand... Not so much.” Sophia replied. “Left at the next intersection.”


The group arrived at the prison and Sophia knocked on the door.


A guard opened the door and greeted Sophia.


“So we’ve got a new inmate. I’m sure our resident Orc would love the company.”


“Somehow I doubt that. Put this one in the cell across from his anyway.”


“Will do, Sophia,” the guard replied. “By the way have we heard anything new on Lurinda and the guard who used to work here?”


“Last I heard, they were making some progress.” Sophia replied.


“That’s good. I suppose.”


“Indeed it is. At any rate, be sure to search him. For all I know he may have lock picks or weapons hidden on his person.”


“Will do!” the guard replied.


“Now then, let’s go, Loromir, we’ve got trees to save!” Sophia said.


“Coming!”


When they were out of earshot, Loromir burst into laughter.


“I really must hand it to you, Sophia, watching you deal with Krallt was quite the treat. You really do have the heart of a Dragon.”


“I merely did what I had to. I realized that there wasn’t going to be anyone in that marketplace that would have given us the right answer unless their life depended on it.”


“True. The taint was quite thick there. Even Greejoh is affected by it.”


“About that...”


“What?” Loromir asked.


“I’d keep the taint just between us for the moment. I don’t know how well Smitty would take that...”


“I can tell you – it would not be well.”


“In that case, we’re agreed. The most we can tell him is there are plenty of unpleasant characters in Eisenstadt. For now, let’s get these to Smitty so we can get those lumberjacks back on their feet.” Sophia said.


Sophia and Loromir made their way back to Smitty’s lair.


---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----


Sophia and Loromir found Smitty and Orphas working on some armor. Smitty was about to pound an amulet into someone’s armor when they walked in.


“Greetings! How goes the armor upgrades?” Sophia asked as she put the small box of parts on the workbench.


“Slow and painful,” Smitty replied. I dunno who made all these chest plates, but by the Creator’s seven inner minions! Did no one back in the day ever think that armor could use any sort of enhancements?”


“Uh... What did you say?” Sophia asked.


“I asked if no one ever thought that armor could use any enhancements.”


“No... Before that – the part about the Creator...” Sophia clarified.


“It was just an old Dwarven oath.”


“I know that much – just say it again. Please?” Sophia asked


“By the Creator’s seven inner minions...” Smitty repeated, somewhat confused as he took a look in the box.


“Something tells me I knew them.” Sophia replied and then shook her head.


“At least ye managed to get the right parts! I take it ye finally found Greejoh.” Smitty asked.


“Yes, indeed we did. Though finding him wasn’t easy. When we got there, we ran into a rather unpleasant Dwarf who tried to ambush us and take my swords. We then ran into my new rehabilitation project – Krallt. He was trying to leave the marketplace. But I convinced him to show us the way to Greejoh’s booth and then I made him pay Greejoh with the money he absconded with.”


“Och... What in the name of the seven tunnels is going on there in Eisenstadt?” Smitty asked.


“I’m not sure, Smitty, but I plan on investigating and hopefully doing something about it.” Sophia replied.


“Good. In the mean time, I’ll have the sprayers up and running by morning.” Smitty said.


“Great news, but Smitty, be sure to get some rest now and again. No sense in having you drop dead of exhaustion!”


“Aye, I plan to get a nap in just as soon as I get these sprayers put together. While you were out, the lumberjack camp sent a message askin’ about them.” Smitty replied.


“In that case, I’ll leave you to it. The armor can wait for now. If need be, issue an amulet with a strap or chain. I need to stop in at Manda’s to see about Lurinda and the guard.”


And with that, Sophia left the cavern.

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Never mess with a babe with swords. That is the lesson I have learned from this chapter.

 

Reading this story has made me want to do three things: 1) eat, 2) write, 3) talk to dragons. I can't do the third one, but I can certainly do the first one, and thanks to you, I am doing the second one as we speak. I don't see enough Sacred fanfics around, so thanks again for writing and edumacating me in things Sacred.

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More like "Don't cheese off the Seraphim. They don't take kindly to being swindled."

 

And of course you can talk to dragons.. Just don't do it out in public - people might think you're just a little weird.. Tho keep in mind, if you wanna have one hang around, best have access to LOTS of wild boars and plenty of gravy..! :D

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It's not that hard. You'll need:

 

1.) something you're at least interested in - being passionate helps.

2.) You need to do a butt load of research.

3.) an idea.

4.) pay attention to what's happening in the game. I've found most people don't.

 

 

For me, the first seed was planted with Sacred - the Book of the Seraphim. It was something that didn't quite fit the mold.

 

Then I got the idea to write about the Gods of Sacred 2 - those didn't make much sense in the Sacred lineage. There was the religion of the Creator, and suddenly there's the religion of these 6 gods. Even Sophia herself has issues with the religion of the 6 gods... And then I played the shadow campaign all the way thru to the end and then the whole thing suddenly made sense in a way.

 

After watching the opening story a few dozen times, the rising and falling of civilizations - a bunch of fertilizer was added to the seedling and it really began to sprout. The bits about the various wars and such intrigued me.

 

So I had to figure out how to make sense of it all. From there it's just a matter of tying the loose ends together to come up with a tale that works.

 

The key is to pay attention to the quests given - you never know when someone might say something that might be helpful. Most people tend to click through such things - mainly because they're interested in the loot the quest giver dropped when you get back to him. I know I'm guilty of this - but it pays to listen (or read) what the guy has to say - at least once. Some quests are useful.. Others - not so much.

 

Some quests need to be repeated - such as Sophia's main quest appearance where she talks about how there is only one Creator and the 6 gods are merely aspects of his being. This will become an important facet of the story later on...

 

Then you might run into a spot where there's NO information what so ever. In which case, the solution is to come up with something to fill the gap that fits the story and the existing lore without going completely overboard.

 

And don't be afraid to expand the description of a place or a person or a thing beyond what shows up in the game. Case in point - the Seraphim Tower on the island. It's barely a skeleton with a skin on it. There's no real place to do much of anything in there. Sure, it serves it's purpose in the game, but as a day in - day out kind of structure? Not so much. Looking at the rest of the facilities on the island - there seems to be a distinct lack of infrastructure. Stuff that you don't need to play the game, but you would if you were a Seraphim and you were actually living there.

 

So the only other thing you really need at this point is time and the resolve to get it done. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort to get something on a page. There are times when distractions come up. Life happens. But you've got to work through it all.

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Yeah.. But booze and ice cream seldom solve any problems in real life. They only cause more. Alcoholism, obesity, diabetes... Need I say more?

 

Come on, wolfie, don't be such a spoiler-sport; I agree with the booze, but who could pass up some gravy-topped ice cream?

 

Anyway, just messin' wit you. ;)

 

But seriously, nice work on the story so far... :thumbsup:

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Yeah.. But booze and ice cream seldom solve any problems in real life. They only cause more. Alcoholism, obesity, diabetes... Need I say more?

 

Come on, wolfie, don't be such a spoiler-sport; I agree with the booze, but who could pass up some gravy-topped ice cream?

 

Anyway, just messin' wit you. ;)

 

But seriously, nice work on the story so far... :thumbsup:

 

 

Thanks..

 

For what it's worth - it sucks when you've either got any of those conditions or people around you do. I do not recommend living with a hard core alcoholic. Life isn't fun dealing with people like that. It's not like Leaving Las Vegas - which IMO was relatively sanitized... If you ever run into that sort of situation - I have only one piece of advice - RUN FOR THE HILLS! I speak from experience. Trust me. You'll thank me later.

 

Um.. Gravy topped ice cream..? Sounds like something only a Dragon could like... I'll pass...

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