Avalon/Roleplay Section/Hector/Book 2/Siohban Training
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Siohban's Training Part I
Roleplay by Siobhan
Was it the lack of sleep, the long journeys before, or twelve hours of preaching? She physically felt tired, but her thaughts were clear. She put on her Druid's attire, grabbed her bag filled with books, notes, little bags of dried herbs, some stones... It looked a bit of a mess in there, but it was allright. The leather had darkened from intensive use, but it served its purpose. It was getting dark as she walked through the camp. She was greeted by the soldiers, who were eating their rations. There was not much food to be found. Just outside of the large white tent she halted. "Lord Hector?"
"Yes, Siobhan, come in."
She entered the tent, which was scarcely lit. It took her eyes a moment to adjust.
Lord Hector, who was standing facing some kind of small shrine, greeted it by folding his right fist into his left hand, bowing his head at the same time. Instinctively, she did the same. Apparantly, Lord Hector performed his evening prayers at his own altar, not in open air as she does. He turned around to face her, a large man not only in stature, but even more so in charisma. He was one who surely immediately commanded respect of anyone.
He smiled and gestured towards an open-back chair, in which she took place. "Would you like something to drink?" His voice had suffered during the long hours of preaching. "Some water will be fine, my Lord."
"Nonsense, why trust the water if you have wine? After all, in vino veritas."
Indeed. Well, why not. She could take a drink as well as any man, even more so. But she would have liked to remain sober as she was planning on taking notes of wisdom from this great Druid. And as a slight level of intoxication much improved her speaking abilities, her writing it would not.
She took the drinking horn of wine he offered her with a smile. It smelled excellent. She raised it up to him. "Wassail!"
"Wassail!", he responded, looking at her.
She set her horn down in front of her as she assembled her writing gear for what was sure to be a long night...
Hector gives his first lesson
Hector smiled as she took out her note taking materials. And eagerly listened to Hector. He laughed to himself, why would someone be so eager to hear from me?
He looked at her and leaned forward, "I was eager, like you once, but books, albeight, essential to our Order, it is about 30% of what you need to learn. What I am going to teach you, you will not find in these books that line this tent. You know, it takes about 6 scribes and 3 wagons to lug all this around? Do you know why I lug all this around, yet barely open a page while traveling?"
Siobhan looked puzzled, what kind of lesson was this? she thought, but replied, "No Lord Hector, why would you carry all these books around when spreading the word?"
Hector leans back, "It's all about appearances, my dear. Appearances are what makes us do what we do. Do you attack a man who appears to be a nice enough fellow? Why no, of course not, do you ready your sword when a toothless, unbathed peasant approaches, with the look of vile painted on his face? You do, it's about appearance. So, I lug around these books, so the Order appears larger and more important to those who don't know anything about us. They see a camp, they see 3 or 4 large tents, fire, civilized human's at this camp, they believe we have some merrit. It's how I get so many converssions while on the road. If I preach to 450, about 250 to 300 will convert. They believe in these sorts of things... That's lesson one... Appearance."
The next we need to talk about is the ways of our world, the Natural elements, the way evil comes about, and the way we need to prevent it, as best as possible."
Siobhan sat back, she wasn't prepared for this lesson, she wasn't thinking she would have to get involved so soon with protecting mankind, she thought she'd be less involved. Her thoughts started to wander, her heart filled with a bit of excitement, she was actually going to make a difference, and what a difference she intended to make!
Hector leaned towards her. "Our primary duty, my dear, is to know Evil, and prevent it. All other things are great, and good, but one thing Arian told me, this isn't like to old Druids, who sat around studying plants and animals and water flows and science all day, day-in, day-out. No, we are to watch for the undead, and watch for the Creatures of the Netherworld, and protect the Colony Tree at all costs. We have a duty to keep them in their world, and us in ours. We also need to watch Evil realms from sprouting up, for they will become the magnet for the Netherworld to work her Evil.
Now, I have no doubt, my dear, that you are up for this challenge, and our first lesson will be in summoning a demon, then trapping him with a few different spells. Don't be too alarmed dear, I'll be right with you, neither of us will get hurt. Once we've preformed these tasks, you will be much more aware of what you are dealing with."
Siohban stares at Hector and nods slowly.
Next: coming soon
