Avalon/Roleplay Section/Hector/Book 2/New Priest
Previous: Return of the Druid
A New Priest in Town
Hector leaves the Druid temple, knowing full well Arian would not be there when he got back. He headed into town wearing his druid cloak and went to a local Tavern, and ordered a couple of shots of hard alcohol and sat there, pondering.
A young woman approached Hector from behind. Hector knew she was there, but ignored her for a moment.
"Lord Hector" she said as she gazes at the back of his cloak.
He does not respond, and she reaches up and taps him on the shoulder, "Lord Hector, please, I've been looking for you for a couple of days..."
Hector turns around ready to snap at this person who is destrubing him, but as he turns around, he is taken aback by her beauty and soft spoken look.
She continues, "I've been looking for you, I wish to join the druids, I've heard about them and want to join..."
Hector reaches behind him, never removing his eyes from her soft face, and grabs his shot glass and gulps it down, returning to gaze at her. "We're full" He says, snickering inside himself, knowing full well, her becoming a druid could seriously distract him.
"But Lord Hector, it is written the Druids accept anyone pure of heart, and I am not about to stop now!"
Hector raises one eyebrow and purses his lips together, then looks to one side and back again, trying to think of something. Hector is normally quite quick with his wit, but he seems mentally blocked, his brain is locked, and he has nothing clever to say, so he says, "OK, meet me at the temple tomorrow morning, and we'll begin your studies."
A smile stretches across her face from ear to ear, she then looks at the bar tender and nods. He slaps a shotglass on the counter and she reaches for it, without hesitation, slams it down then looks back at Lord Hector, "OK, then, I'll see you in the morning", and as quickly as she appeared, she was gone in the crowd again and out the door."
Hector turns back around and leans on the bar, he looks up at the bartender after a few moments of silence and says, "you know what... leave the bottle!"
Avoiding the Resemblance
Hector had not attended the morning session he had promissed Kara in Cteduul that morning. There was a deep routed avoidance going on with Hector. From the moment he laid eyes on Kara he realized that she bared a striking resemblance to Jessica, and that she suddenly came to Avalon around the time Jessica sacraficed herself for the good of Beluaterra.
He senced something that scared him greatly. Instead, he found himself on a road to wilwau, his old region. One that Lord Hector was made charge of long ago. The birthplace of the Order of the Druids. Burrying himself in his work was often how Hector avoided challenging emotional issues.
He found himself thinking back to Kara's first encounter with Hector and how fear drove him to not turn around, he felt as though it was Jessica standing there.
Hector turned his thoughts back to business at hand. He stopped at a wayside inn in Wilwau and entered the temple. Scribes, who'd long been forgotten looked up from their notes to see Hector enter. They were astonished... he still lives? Thought one scribe. "Lord Hector, may I take something for you, your books perhaps?"
"Hector looked at him and said, "No thank you, I leave immediately to spread the word, come with me and take notes."
Hector outside the temple on the steps and began his sermon. Many people stopped and listened, and in fact, many turned their beliefs that day and decided to start attending regular mass at the Druid order. However, a small crowd began to gather, with anger in their eyes. Hector sensed something was amiss, and began to wind up his preaching.
As he got down, a man approached, teeth missing, eyes bulging and his hair as white as a ghost... "You speak evil!! Lies!!!"
"Yes!" another joined in, "You are a heretic, you are an evil-doer!"
Hector reached under his cloak, to find comfort with his hand on his dagger. His other hand outstreched and begged patience. "People, this region is where the Druid Order was founded, surely preaching it should be understandable..."
A rock flew by Hector's head, followed by a small knife. Hector drew his dagger and dogged several more objects. His temper started to rise, his soldier instincts began to take hold. He parried one man's attacks and kicked another down the steps. He backed into the druid temple and closed the door, dropping the bolt across the doors to keep them out.
"Mi'lord, that wasn't very pleasant, perhaps the times have changed, and it's not any longer the way of these people."
Hector looked at the squire and said, "Take a note... To all Druid Priests, new and old, your training will begin in Wilwau, where you will teach the basics to the peasants here, with my oversight. We shall roam these southern regions together, avoiding over-preaching by staying on the move... did you get that scribe?"
"Yes Mi'lord...hmmph, you haven't changed a'tall".
Hector smiled a bit, looking down, then back at the scribe, "That's true old man, now dispatch the letter..." He said somewhat abruptly.
Now if I can just get past my new priest and the likeness she has of Jessica.
Roleplay from Siobhan
As Siobhan returned to her room above 'The Greasy Goose', she heard Erin's voice speak out her name softly. She looked around the room and found her at the corner of the bar. The same spot she usually occupied at times of feast. Apart from the inn-keeper's dog, they were alone, and the dog was minding his own business guarding the passage from the hall into the kitchen, laying on one side sleeping. On the surface of the bar, where usually there was a line of tankards containing a variety of the most vicious of alcoholic beverages known to man, there was now only a pile of assorted scrolls, some sealed red, most probably of political or military relevance, but also two bearing a blue seal. The paper was more like parchment, yellow-ish and looked as if it had been laying in a drawer somewhere for some time.
"Have you joined the Order, my Lady?"
"I have. I came to Avalon to find a place to serve to the best of my abilities. A place where our family values of Honour, Service and Truth would be appreciated. We all have our destinies to follow, Erin, mine lies beyond this path."
"You will no longer be commanding the 7th Alatol Dragonclaws?"
"Send a note to the men, that after their leave they are free to rejoin the recruitment centre and sign up. Tell them I am proud to have been their commanding officer, even if it was only for a short while. Tell them I will never forget them. And write a letter of recommendation for Bridget, the healer, Scout Macha and Sergeant Brina. I will sign those tonight."
"Off course, My Lady. But please don't tell me that I have been relieved of duty as well? I have been with you since you arrived in Light of Fountain, I could not bare to..."
"You are welcome to join me, Erin. But the travels will be long and the challenges more fearsome then battle. We will travel light carrying only the essentials, we will wear simple clothing and live off the goodness of people. I don't recommend, but I do welcome you."
"If I would have to follow you barefoot across the Norjke mountains, I would, my Lady."
"Then go get those letters written. We will go sell our excess items in the shop-district later."
As usual, she opened the red-sealed scrolls first. Some messages about tearing down a recruitment centre, monster hunts... Then there were only the blue seals left. As she looked at them closer she noticed that it consisted of three concentric circles around three horizontally alligned dots, with a detached line drawn downwards and diverging from them. She knew this sign very well, it is the sign of 'Awen', signifying that all is threefold and a signet of devine inspiration and guidance. Quickly but carefully, she opened the larger scroll. In the most beautifull of handwritings it said she was promoted to 'Druid Priest' and that she was now a senior member of the Order. It was signed by Grand Master Druid Hector himself. She rolled it up gently and put it in the leather scroll-bag on her belt. Then she opened the second one. It was a more coarsly written report of a meeting where the Grand Master had preached, where he had converted some but had to escape because of some 'enraged followers of Qyrvaggism'. She had visited their Temple once when she was down in Bolkenia on a military mission. It hadn't impressed her at all. In the letter GM Hector requested some help around Wilwau. Of course, attacking a peacefull, preaching Druid can turn him into an enraged, swordwielding Druid. 'Let's not let it come to that.', she thought to herself. 'Wilwau it is, then.'
"Make haste with those letters, Erin. We are asked to travel to Wilwau, our services are needed there."
The allready busy Erin started to dip her quill into the ink with greater speed and write faster. The pile of paper would grow higher, as there were 45 former Dragonclaws to inform. Only then it occured to Siobhan that probably not all of them would be able to read, but she quickly dismissed that thought to go up the stairs into her room, where she would pack for the journey... And for the quest.
Next: A New Mission
