Covenant of the Undying/Archive
Silenus' Sermon in Hilly Holes
HILLY HOLES - Billy's Hilly Hole Tavern
It was evening, an hour or two after sunset and Silenus entered 'Billy's Hilly Hole', a local tavern near the 'Gate', where the golems and a growing crowd of spectators where assembled. Silenus had come here almost every evening of the day for his daily sermon, every night dressed in a long, very concealing black cloak with a large hood, fully covering the face. It has been weeks and by now everyone in the area knew about the daily sermons, everyone has at least attended one, and in the end many actually converted. The taverns house guests where sick and tired of hearing them by now, and the last week he only found a handful of people willing to listen. A particularly drunk guest threw his jug in Silenus' direction as he entered the room and cursed something incomprehensible, most likely directed at Silenus. Silenus followed where the jug landed and picked it up, he inspected it visually for a moment before smelling to detect its content. He started walking towards the bar as he started talking.
"Ah Black Mead, the darkest brew on the continent, probably the world in fact. A single drink can already kill a man. But you and I both know those people aren't men, they are weaklings, and never last a day in Outer Tilog."
"w-Yhesz Swir!!" The drunk exclaimed as he raised a new, full cup in the air, spilling half its contents, before chugging down the remaining drink.
Silenus saluted the man as he nodded subtly to the bartender, offering the cup. The bartender immediately took the cup and put it to the barrel, pouring it with a dark, foamy liquid. Silenus raised the cup and finished the entire drink of Black Mead at once.
"How I miss the sweet drunk of this delicious ale, something I since my unblessing no longer can enjoy." He said as he moved towards the drunk, putting his arm around him as he continued.
"What I do not miss is how awful i felt everyday trying to keep chasing that drunk, and how i woke up every morning, completely broken, sick and weak like an old donkey. In fact, if you keep going you end up needing them to drag you around, for you will destroy your body to the point of no return. I can see it in your eyes, what i see is a younger version of me on a journey to drink yourself to death. There is no hope for you my friend, no, the barrel will always chase you down, and haunt you without rest. Perhaps you can find the strength to leave the bottle alone for a year or perhaps two, how proud you'd then be of your achievement. But if one little pillar underneath your family's house is knocked down, you suffer from one bad harvest and the bottle will find you. The only way out is the unblessing of the undying and the sweet embrace of death it self that can save you, I can save you. I can save all of you." He said as he reached out to the other guests. Most of them where perplexed and the drunk that first threw the mug was now sitting at the bar silently staring into the void, for a moment feeling absolutely sober, realizing he had just heard the truth. Like slaves they followed Silenus to the other side of the room, where his followers where already waiting to hear his sermon.
"..... and so we must conclude that life it's self is the curse, and death the only antidote. Being conceived was your trial, and birth your punishment. There is no judgement day or a hereafter, THIS is the hereafter, and the judge had reached a verdict long ago. You know your convicted for life and only death marks the end of it. There is no hope of working your way up here to a better afterlife, because there is none! It is the lie to conceal the truth, so you sit your trial out until it has reached its end, turning you into their slave in the process. The longer you suffer the better. But you're all smart men and women, you are not fooled by them! They want you to feel like you owe them and their gods, and work for them to achieve a place among the heavens. But you won't let them! You now know there is a way out. The covenant welcomes all the living into the Undying. Where the curse of life is broken by the Lich spell of salvation. Where eternal freedom from life's suffocating constrains is found by all who just start looking for it!" Silenus paused and looked at his audience, most of whom where in conversation with each other and clearly didn't listen, some fell asleep and others where so inebriated they no longer had the ability to comprehend or remember anything at all. But none of this bothered him, he was completely immune to the lack of success he recently had. Often he would go days without converting a single soul, if only a handful where even listening, then Silenus would be 'happy'.
"My acolytes will now step forward, those that seek the Unblessing can come with them to receive it. I thank you all for your precious attention."
A few black hooded figures stepped forward into the crowd, and started pulling people out of their seats, one by one, anyone either willing or drunk enough not to resist where dragged off. One drunkard, who initially cooperated, eventually started to struggle, attempting to throw punches wildly at the general direction of the hooded acolyte. From the right angle one could see a glimpse of the acolytes face, lit up from a candle light on the table in front of them. He seemed to be grinning faintly as he grabbed the drunkard by the throat and revealed the small shiny blade of his knife, which he unsheathed so smoothly, it appeared out of nowhere. "I will just need a little bit of your blood." He muttered softly as he started stabbing the drunkard. "Don't worry. it's all part of the ritual." He said while completely squeezing the drunkards throat shut, and throwing his last few stabs. Just as smoothly as he grabbed his knife, he made it disappear again. He cunningly set the bleeding drunkard down on a chair behind the table and all within a seemingly single motion, he left the tavern. The man sat there unconscious and bleeding to death and nobody even seemed to notice it.
Silenus didnt pay attention to the acolytes himself as he spotted Dethlok entering the tavern earlier and was eager to talk. He expected him for a while as he invited him to come, and Dethlok made him self known as he entered the room.
"Sir Dethlok, its great to finally meet you." Silenus was fully inspecting him from head till toe, as if he was looking for something specific. Something was off, but he couldn't recognize him as a Lich or an undead, nor did he have some kind of 'aura of greatness' as a descendant of His Unholiness. He looked suspiciously normal in fact, dangerously normal for a Tilogian, where hairy dog things and living gargoyles actually rule over its people, and its absurd law book deems almost everything seemingly normal an illegal practice. It made Silenus a bit uncomfortable.
"I am certainly surprised by your... ahum... appearance. Perhaps I expected something... different. In your letters you seemed to know so much more about the Unblessing then i do. But you look so, average, so normal!" He said with an expression of disgust on his face.
"I was interested in your connection to His Unholiness, but even more in what you know of the Unblessing and its... how should i say? side effects." Silenus finally sat down and awaited Dethloks response eagerly.
Sitting relaxed and casual in the corner booth, Dethlok had ordered the infamous Black Mead served at Billy's Hilly Hole tavern. He smirked at the Unblessing ceremony as he watched the ritual unfold in the crowded pub. Leaving his acolytes to finish the ceremony, Prophet Silenus had made his way to the corner booth Dethlok had commandeered.
"Sir Dethlok, its great to finally meet you." The skeletal figure's disgust as he looked him up and down was blatant and obvious. "I am certainly surprised by your... ahem... appearance. Perhaps I expected something... different. In your letters you seemed to know so much more about the Unblessing then I do. But you look so, average, so normal!" Dethlok nodded as one would to something expected. Continuing the Prophet added, "I was interested in your connection to His Unholiness, but even more in what you know of the Unblessing and its... how should i say? side effects."
Taking a long draw off the mead, he wiped his upper lip and spoke in a quiet and subdued voice. "A pleasure to meet you too." Spreading his hands out openly he gestures to himself, "I have not undergone the Unblessing, obviously. I am completely human as is the rest of the Black family. Our family are the descendants of the Lich King before be became Eternal. Back then he was the mortal leader of a cult that worshiped death itself and used undead as servants and troops. They caused great strife across the lands as the Lich King strove to unlock the secrets of The Eternal. And no, I do not know what his name was then. What we know is mostly oral tradition, passed on generation after generation. Neither I nor my cousins know the Lich King personally and he has not associated himself with his mortal kindred in any fashion that we remember."
Taking another long draw from the mug, he continues. "About The Unblessing. There are varied aspects to it that date back to the original death cult. But, it does not need to be as severe as... you've experienced." Dethlok winced delivering that news and expecting anger over it. "The Lich King is one of those all or nothing types. There are levels of the Unblessing that last until the receiver chooses to leave, which also requires a ritual, and it does not incur a physical change as you have experienced. The Emissary, for instance, kept her mortal visage and looks quite well for being 500 years or so in age. But her's in quite permanent."
Taking another long draw from the mug, he motions the barmaid for another.
"She does look well indeed" Silenus said before pausing for a bit.
"I practically begged His Unholiness for the Unblessing, and I trust he knows what form would best suit me. I was an abomination before he Unblessed me, a monster carried around on donkeys, drinking and eating to my own detriment. I am free from suffering now, but something new has taken its place, something empty, something soothing but immensely dark, darker then the darkest night. I believe I need to go out there and unravel all the secrets of the Undying. If His Unholiness truly was a mortal man once and discovered the undying by himself, I can follow his footsteps and find what ever he found back then that serves as the origin of his powers. I certainly have time, all i need now is patience and determination."
Suddenly a load boom shook up the room, every lose object started shaking, Silenus grabbed the table as he looked around him. The shaking slowly passed as the taverns guests looked at each other in confusion. Silenus noticed the sonic boom came from the north.
"Could that be the Golems? perhaps they finished their 'ritual'. I need to go there right away to investigate the scene. They are the whole reason i am holed up in this Lich forsaken place in the first place." Silenus stood up from his chair but just before moving to the exit he directed his attention to Dethlok once again.
"You must at least be curious about these creatures, or have you come here just to meet me in person?" He said gesturing him to come along.