2013 Game Preview

"Are the preparations almost ready? Her birthday is less than a week away," Terrance asked as he sat down in the chair. The tall slender man with the pleasant smile put an apron over him and applied warm cream to his face.
"My Lord Regent, every single request you have made in regards to Brianna's birthday has been carried out, checked and triple checked. Each of her uncles and their families will be attending to see her crowned.
"ALL of her uncles, Barker? Terrance raises an eye at his valet  who only chuckled as he reached for an onyx box.
"Oh I certainly hope not, my Lord. Forgive me I have misspoke. Cigam will not be attending, of course."
Terrance sighed; it had only been four years since his adoptive mother and father had disappeared. If his uncles or the old general, Gorien, knew where they were; they have never shared. Still they made sure that the throne was ready for them. Negus had stopped it's quest for power when his father took over the throne, ending hundreds of years of war. A few years later Gorien had found Terrance, just a young boy in the woods, and the still new king and queen adopted him. Even after his sister was born, he was never treated as anything less than their own son.
Still when it came time to announce an heir, Terrance's younger sister was selected. There was no end to the questioning that caused. Some people said it was because only a true-blooded beryl should rule... others simply stated that the crown had typically passed from Mother to Daughter, Drakin and his four brothers being the first male Beryls born in hundreds of years. Still others simply think that the young princess was more loved by her father.
When Barker opened the small onyx box, Terrance's mind stopped wandering. Barker was his father's last gift to him. A talented servant, a fierce protector, with a dreadful secret. The pale thin fingers of Barker reached into the dark onyx box, and took out a simple looking razor out from it. Terrance's eyes focused on the blade as it was opened.
"Since this is such an important event, " Barker started, "and you have to look your best, do you want..."
"No Barker, no just YOUR talents will do." Terrance cut him off tilting back his head.
Barker just nodded and smiled as he brought the razor up to the Lord Regent's neck. "Very good, sir."

The first year of Queen Malachite Beryl, the third day of The Raven Queen

My allies had brought my body back to my home village, giving me a funeral very respect worthy. Beck, the one my Queen spared during the battle that slayed me, has become devoted to my Queen. I'm glad to see my Queen's mercy not wasted. While they were traveling back however, tragedy has been taken place in Negus capital.

Beryl has begun an aggressive campaign against it's neighboring kingdoms. Daily the souls of guards, advisers, and royalty enter my Queen's domain; courtesy of the Shaokin assassins that stayed with her.

The world of the living should not hold so much interest to me, truly while I was alive it didn't mean nearly as much to me. It is... a distraction from my duties in my Queen's court. Yet I am not the only one distracted. There are old and powerful souls here that have served my queen for centuries longer then I have, and they too are looking back upon the mortal plane. It does feel like there is a storm coming and this is just the begining.

The first year of Queen Malachite Beryl, the twenty forth day of Corellon.

My living allies, they do not understand. This was no accident, no rage brought on by her first "shadow shift" as the Shaokin call it. This was matricide. My queen whispers to me, tells me that the fallen lady shall not leave the land of the living. That she remains to watch over her daughter. Ever the loving mother despite what was done to her. Normally my queen would not be so interested in this, but she senses how much more death this will lead too. Although her kingdom will swell with subjects, she seems distraught over it; as much as she gets distraught over anything. Still it is not my place to guess the motives of my queen, she has given me a place to serve her. What more could one of her faithful ask for?

-Fermata, humble servant of the Raven Queen.

The fifteenth year of Lady Garnet Beryl, the twenty third day of Corellon.

Today is the day that I died.

-Fermata, humble servant of the Raven Queen.

From Silvanna to Negas

For a moment, Gorien felt like he should have taken some time to gather his things for the long trip back to Negas. This thought quickly passed once he realized that he has just about everything he owns with him already. He used to have a home, full of things. Keepsakes, trinkets, knickknacks. But that was a long time ago, or at least it felt like it to the road-weary knight. Back when he had things, and a home to keep them in. Now, all he carries with him are the necessities. Weapons. Armor. Rations. No matter how light he travels, though, he still feels as if he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, and it shows in his posture. Back when he was just a simple sheriff, he'd ride with his head held high and shoulders square, proud to be a keeper of the peace; but keeping the peace between a couple of farmers is a much different thing than keeping the peace between empires.

He rode side by side with the quiet Derek Beryl, Prince of Negas. They were a lot alike in that moment. They said very little to each other, not because there was nothing to say, but instead because they knew that talking wouldn't make their troubles any easier. Gorien, the so-called Hero of Three Kingdoms, was just banished from Silvanna, and not even the most gifted seers in the world could tell exactly what was on Dereks' mind, but even a fool could tell that it was a heavy load. Behind them marched the Negas army. They had just fought a war not two days ago, though it was difficult to say who had won and who had lost.

"Tell me, Sir Gorien," Derek started, "why did you not take the short road with your friends? If you'd taken the portal with them, you'd be back in Negas already."

Gorien shivered a little at the mention of portals. "I figured after all this excitement, I could use a nice, slow ride to ease my mind. Besides, we don't get along so well. Me and portals, that is. Make me sort of queasy." His gelding, Bucephalus, whinneyed in agreement.

"Portal sickness? You?" Derek shook his head and chuckled. "Will wonders never cease."

Gorien sighed and patted the horse's neck. "I guess in a way, this is where I belong. Not Silvanna. Not Negas. Just me, Bucey here, and the long, lonesome road. It's the closest thing to hone I got left."

Derek looked at him sternly. "I heard what you said in the throneroom. You may think you had little choice in the matter, but in hard fact, you chose to return to Negas. This was your decision, do not forget that."

Gorien grumbled something unintelligible, and Bucephalus snorted.

After a few more leagues, they approached a small town on the outskirts of Silvanna. A handful of ragged-looking villagers stood in the road, brandishing their farm tools as if they were prepared for war. Gorien sighed again. "Derek, let me handle this."

Derek simply nodded. "As you wish." He held his hand up, signaling the army behind him to halt.

Gorien rode up to the group and stepped down from his horse. Before he could open his mouth, he was greeted brashly by the leader of the group. "Negas isn't welcome here. I'm afraid I can't let you pass." He was short, squat, and full of bravado. The ruffians behind him seemed to feed off of his feigned bravery.

"Now look here, neighbor" Gorien explained, "we don't want no trouble. Yea, we're from Negas, and all we want to do is go back there. So, if y'all'll just let us through, we'll be out of here in no time at all."

The leader crossed his arms and huffed, and even from 10 feet away, Gorien could smell the liquor on his breath. "Maybe you didn't hear me, old man, but I'm not going to let a single one of you set foot in MY town, so why don't you just turn around and find some other road."

Gorien approached the drunk slowly. "The road to Negas is long enough as it is without takin' any unnecessary detours. Like I already told you, all we want to do is pass on throug. I think I can speak for all of 'em when I say we've had enough fightin' to last us a lifetime, so why don't you kindly step aside and just let us pass."

"For the last time, it's not going to happen, old man."

By now, Gorien was nearly nose to nose with the leader, and from the stench coming off him, Gorien remembers why he gave up drinking. "And for the last time, I'd really appreciate it if you'd simply step down and let us by."

"Step down? I'll KNOCK you down!"

The drunk took one hard swing at the knight, but Gorien saw it coming before he even clenched his fist. In one smooth motion, Gorien evaded the swing, punched him in the face with his left hand, spun around and drew his double-bladed sword with his right. Continuing to spin, Gorien swung the sword around with a practiced flourish, landing a solid blow to the drunk's rubs with the flat of one of the blades. Gorien stepped back into a defensive stance as the drunk charged. The knight sidestepped and knocked him in the back of the head with his sword's grip, sending him diving face-first into the dirt. He did not get up.

Gorien put the sword back on its holder on the back of his armor and turned back towards the rabble. "So like I said, I don't want no trouble, and all we're gonna do is pass on through. That is, unless anyone else's got high hopes of teachin' this 'old man' a lesson."

The crowd looked at Gorien, then at eachother, before quickly dispersing. Gorien climbed back on Bucephalus's back and waved a signal back to Derek. Soon, the troops were in motion again. Nobody gave them a second glance as they calmly rode through the town.

The Road from Unoisque

The path between Unoisque and the temple was just as Gorien remembered if not a bit more overgrown. The winkled old map stretched out between his hands; he noted the next landmark on it and put it back into his satchel. Just one of the keepsakes that reminded him of Gerrard. That name made him look over his shoulder at the strange tall woman that rode next to him. He was a mite fuzzy about the details, but it seemed like she was old friends with Gerrard too. Of course, she also seemed to be friends with strange invisible little people that lived on her shoulder so he had to take her connection to Gerrard with a grain of salt.

"Are we there yet," piped up one of the twins. Gorien wasn't sure which one, nor did he care to much about it either. He just made a mental note to give Lloyd a nice hard smack next time he sees the jerk that stuck him with those two.

It was Master Fury that spoke up to answer the question, "Not yet, but it is not much further." The twin didn't respond except to move the stick so that the grape that was tied to it moved closer to the donkey that the twins road. The donkey remained uninterested in the grape. The young woman that rode next to Fury was happy about the news at least.

"Oh good. I was afraid our dear General had got us lost again." She glanced back at Gorien.

"No ma'am. We are in my old backyard so you don't your pretty little head, Ginelle . I'll make sure we avoid all the big scary mud puddles so you won't get yer pretty dress all ruined like," Gorien answered without bothering to look.

"Oh I've never had a problem getting dirty before..." Genelle replied as she leaned in towards her verbal sparing partner a bit lewdly, the large ruby necklace spilling out of her dress. Inara, the Cleric of the goddess, turned her head and blushed a bit at Genelle's display. She was new to the group, and her appointment had been rather unexpected, but she had a duty and would be here with them despite their... oddities.

"You think the town will be alright now?" Inara voiced up politely.

"Well I reckon good ole Smilie will be able to keep those boys in line, especially that there Fetter prick." Well this one time he...

It was Master Fury that first reacted to the sound of the loud snapping cacophony first. As the only one on foot, he rushed forward as a large trunk of a tree came hurtling towards the group. Focusing all of his Ki into two knuckles, his body in perfect harmony and form, he struck forward and shattered the dead tree.

After shielding their collective eyes from the rain of splinters. The team looked up to see 3 ettins charging towards them. Giant human shaped monsters, each with two ugly faces on their two misshapen heads, they wasted no time with threats.

Ahavat raised her hand and spoke in that a haunting musical that the rest of them heard before, as her blank white eyes stared intensely at one of the charging foes, who all of sudden stopped moving and turned an even more pasty color. Ginelle stared down another one who stopped along side his friend and started swinging at him instead. The third continued to charge and took a swing at Fury, who was able to side step away from the blow and using the creature's momentum, sent him stumbling forward towards the others. Bucephalus reared up, lashing out and striking one of its faces with his hoofs. With his horse keeping the beast's attention, Gorien drew his greatsword and brought it down on the other head in one fluid motion.

The two heads of the Ettin that attacked his friend were arguring about who's fault it was when the twins charged him. This was Gorien's first time actually seeing them in action and was curious if they would prove worth the lose of his precious sanity. The red one, struck out at the Ettin, attacking again and again until he was a blur of motion. The ettin tried to strike back at red blur, but the blue one was his shield. While the red attacked with reckless abandonment; the blue parried and countered every time the ettin tried to fend off the reds assaults. Gorien smiled to himself slightly. "Well, Lloyd... alright..." he said quietly.

It was a short time later that the ettins had all fallen. Gorien scanned his fellow adventures. Inara had taken out a small statue of the goddess and moved a bit away from the rest of the party. She set it down and knelled in front of it, whispering in what Gorien assumed to be some prayer, maybe to help him stop his wicked ways. The tall purple lady was just watching her, talking to herself all creepy-like. Fury was congratulating the twins on a job well done. Genelle was wiping some dirt off her dress when she walked over to him.

"So, you'll keep my dress from being clean... hm?" she asked him with an overly exaggerated hrumph.

Gorien struck out his finger and poked the gem that she was wearing. "That there is a worlds worth of trouble in woman form, Jerik. I hope you know what your doing."

The gem seemed to shine a bit as the voice of their fallen friend entered their minds from the ruby. "Oh yes I know, but she can do with this amazing thing with her..."

Gorien took his finger off the ruby, severing the mental connection. "All alright, I don't wanna know... besides folks... we are here." The turned to where he was pointing...

To be continued on game night 4/7/10