Taselak (SEI)/The quest of Taselak/Chapter 1
Contents
Valens
Valens finally reaches Taselak with his scouts and healer. He goes right to the bank and pays his very loyal men for staying with him so long. They leave, and Valens now heads over to the recruitment area.
"Ok...another new unit...this is getting old already, losing my unit, getting wounded...I need something better to happen for me, soon..."
Valens walks up and starts recruiting the best infantry he can find. On his way home after a long day of recruiting, he notices something different. A new home, way up on a hill, just outside of Taselak.
"Hmmm....that wasn't there before...I wonder who lives there...."
Valens heads up there and knocks on the door. No answer. Another knock, and still no answer. Valens turns around and starts to walk away...then the ground under him disappears. Valens drops for about 50 feet, and sees the ground has been replaced above him.
"Owwww....what was that? well...atleast I am not wounded...now to fig...hey who is that?"
Valens notices a figure in the dark, who remains hidden but starts talking to Valens in a quiet manner.
The man says to Valens, "You... are the one. Nobody else would have been able to even see the house. Tell me your name, quickly now."
Flustered, Valens replies, "My name, is Valens. I just trying to find out who lived in..."
The man interrupts Valens, shouting, "QUIET! There are more important manners at hand. You wish for better protection? Better weapons? And... yes, you wish for Taselak to win this war. I can show you the way, if you listen to me."
"Ok, I will listen." He asks, "What do I need to do?"
"Good, there is a legend, of seven great swords, seven great suits of armor and seven great mage staffs. Only the person that the great one picks may even hold or put on any of the great items. You have been picked for the Dragon Sword and Dragon Armor. There are others, many who are in Taselak, that will get the others. Seek them out. You who will know who to find. I give to you, the knowledge of three things:
- Who will be the ones to hold and wear any of the great items.
- How to find the items.
- The power in which to defeat the enemies who wish to stop you from getting to the great items.
Now go! It is time for the Great Power to awaken with in you Valens!"
A magic blast strikes Valens, knocking him out. The next morning, Valens wakes oin his own home and looks outside. The new house is gone. He walks outside. Still very confused, he continued to walk toward the tavern, with no shirt on. Even more strange was the mark on him, which looked like the legendary platinum dragon. When Valens was almost to the tavern, someone walked up near Valens and said....
Daelius
Walking up to the tavern after a long day of recruiting and drilling the new men, Daelius noticed Valens walking ahead of him, shirtless.
He asked, "Feelin' a bit drafty there, Valens? If'n ya're comin' t'other way, I'd probably think ya'd gotten drunk and gotten rolled."
Valens
Valens turned to speak to Daelius, asking, "Huh?...oh my shirt...odd, I don't remember taking it off...hey wait...!"
Valens face turned pure white in shock.
Valens blurted, "You! You're! .... Come with me! I can't explain now, just follow me!"
Valens grabbed Daelius's arm and started heading back to his home.
Daelius
"Alright, already." muttered Daelius as he freed his arm from the excited Valens. "I'm comin', what's so dashed fired important?"
As he followed his fellow commander, he realized that a long day was beginning and he hadn't even gotten a mug of ale first.
Dennis
As Dennis slowly marched through Moeth and onto Belus, he whiled the time away be pondering over a small note recieved from his cousin, Cletius.
- Dear Dennis,
- I recently found a crest carved in the shape of a dragon while searching through our family archives. I saw the word "Taselak" on it's bottom, and thought you might be able to make more sense out of it.
- Good luck and good fighting,
- Cletius
Examining the crest, Dennis discovered the word "Valens" carved into one of it's wings.
"That's strange," he muttered. "Maybe Valens himself can tell me more about this."
Spurring his horse, he rode on to Taselak.
Mischa
Mischa arrived in Belus, with only her scribe, Michelle. She dismounted, heading to the barracks and motioned to the captain of the militia.
"Yes Ma'am?" he asked.
"Tell the men to mount up. You are no longer militia, but are serving under me."
A cheer rang out throughout the barracks, and the bustle began.
Mischa headed back out towards her estate, and spied her sworn knight Dennis riding in. He had a look of determination on his face. His men looked exhausted, but he didn't seem to notice or care.
"Dennis! What is the rush?"
Dennis showed Mischa the crest with Valens' name engraved upon it.
"Wait for me. As soon as my men are ready, I will ride back with you. Do your men need anything before we move out?"
Dennis
Dennis looked around at the empty space behind him and the cart and donkey he hired to drag his men's dead bodies home. Bemused, he turned to his liege.
"I have men? What men?"
Tabrez
Tabrez put on his travel gear and dark gray cloak, with the infiltrator in Moeth on his mind. Starting his trip to Moeth, he sighted the High Marshal heading somewhere. Curiosity struck and he started following the High Marshal, who seemed unaware of the fact. While the High Marshal spoke with a maid and entered a villa, Tabrez snuck in behind them. To remain unseen, he moved near a chest of drawers.
Tabrez thought to himself, "Seems a bunch of Taselak nobles have gathered, but nobody has any idea why they are here. Odd that each is dressed up like they are on display." His curiosity increased and he decided to remain here a little while to see what the men were up before continuing towards Moeth.
Arthur
Arthur sat patiently in his camp in Eraus, reading a book on infantry tactics. He was waiting for Queen Penny to reappoint him Lord after having been wounded in the battle in Sandalak. He heard footsteps and turned to see his scribe approaching.
Looking curious, his scribe declared, "Lord Arthur, you have just received a message. However, we don't know who it's from."
Setting his book aside, Arthur rose, reaching out for the message. He suggested, "Well, let's have a look at it."
- Lord Arthur, it is imperative to the survival of Taselak that you speak to Lord Valens at once upon reaching Taselak. Ask him about the dragon.
Ever more curious, his scribe asked, "Are you going to go see Valens?"
Rubbing his chin Arthur wondered aloud, "Why not? If what this note says is true then I have no choice but to talk to Valens. If not, well, I haven't seen Valens in a long while. It will be good to see him again."
Arthur's scribe walked off. Arthur returned to his book but with only half his mind on it. "Who sent that note? What does it mean?" he wondered.
Elladar
Elladar awoke to one of his soldiers shaking him. "What's going on?" Elladar asked.
The soldier replied, "You have a visitor milord."
"Send him in," he ordered.
The soldier walked out and returned a few moments later with a woman. Elladar was slightly confused, as the woman was wearing the clothes and insignia of a priestess.
"Why would a priestess want to visit me?" he wonders. He thinks the face looks slightly familiar, but he can't recall who it might be.
"Elladar?" she says, "Is that you?"
"Yes I am Elladar, but who might you be?"
The woman frowns, and Elladar notices tears start welling up in her eyes.
"Why are you crying?" he asks.
"I can't believe you don't recognize your own sister," she cries.
"Ránëwén? Is that you?"
"Yes."
"Why are you here? Does mother know you're here? Is every thing alright?"
"Mother knows I am here, and everything is alright, except for one thing."
"What?"
"For a while now I've been having dreams about you. They started shortly after you left. They always are the same: You standing in front of a giant set of doors of what looks like a small fortress, knocking, then a lady opens the door. She looks as if she were a maid. She invites you in. You sit down in a chair, and the maid walks off up some stairs. You sit there waiting for what seems like forever. Then a man appears on the stairs, wearing a magnificent suit of armor and a beautifully crafted, massive broad sword in a sheath on his back. The man walks down the stairs and starts heading towards you. You stand up and shake his hand, it seems as if you know each other. He tells you of a prophecy that some shadowy man in a phantom house told him, and how he is supposed to find 6 more 'chosen ones' to quest for more of the awe-inspiring armor that he is wearing. Then everything fades, and then goes black. I felt as if I was being crushed by the darkness. Then, I see a light, I head towards it. When I reach the light, there is a man standing there, wearing a set of armor, as crimson as the sun, holding a mighty battle axe in one arm. At first I was stunned, when I recognized your face, Elladar, through the slit in the helmet."
Elladar sat there, stunned. He thought there could be no way that he was the warrior with the armor and the axe. For one, he had barely ever used an axe, and two, he was only just a new troop leader, with only his few loyal soldiers. He though there was no way anyone would make him a 'chosen one' in some quest he barely even knew about. His sister looked as if she was about to speak, so he sat there thinking.
"When the dream came the first time, I thought nothing of it. I put it aside as just a dream of you, because I missed you. When it came almost every night for two weeks straight... I knew that it was a prophecy from the gods, saying that you were supposed to become a mighty hero, and save all of Taselak. Unfortunately, I don't know who the man wearing the armor was, or where you might be able to find him."
"It's ok." Elladar said, "I'll find him. Do you want to stay here, during the night? It can get dangerous out on the road at night."
"I'll be fine. No one would dare attack a priestess, in case they angered the gods."
"Ok. Please come find me again, if you have any more prophecies revealed to you."
"Alright." Ránëwén promised.
Elladar thought about what his sister said. "Who could be the man in the armor?" he wonders, "And why did I seem to know him so well?" Elladar then helped his sister out of the tent, and escorts her out of Moeth.
MAVA
MAVA's scribe shook her.
"Lady MAVA, Lady MAVA, wake up!", shouted the scribe.
"Why have you awakened me from my beauty rest?", demanded the startled Lady.
The scribe explained, "Please forgive me, milady, but this message just came for you, with no mark or scribe attached to it."
Unimpressed, she demands, "Well, read it to me before I send you to the gallows for waking me up."
"Yes, Ma'am," the scribe rolls open the scroll and reads aloud:
- Your Presence is requested at Lord Valens home as soon as you can arrive.
MAVA looked at her scribe in expectation "And?"
"And nothing," the scribe claims "That is all there is."
"Well, I guess I should head over to Lord Valens home. Help me get cleaned up," she ordered. "After last nights blowout I need a bath".
"You think that maybe that is what he wants to see you about?" asked her scribe.
"Could be, but, for some reason I have a feeling it has to do with a task he is wanting done. NNNNNOOO not a task a quest. Where did I come up with that? I need to get over to his place and figure out what is going on."
Arthur
As Queen Penny and her royal guard headed out, Arthur turned to his scribe, Berilac, and said, "Now to head to Taselak and see what that note was about."
Berilac asserts, "Sir, I have been looking over our maps and Taselak is a good day and a half from here."
"Well then, we had better get going. I want to speak to Valens before the army moves out again."
Elladar
Elladar wandered through the city of Taselak thinking about everything that happened. He thought about what his sister told him that night in Moeth. Confused, he headed into the local pub to have a drink and wonder what the prophecy meant.
Walking up to the bar, he said to the barkeep, "Give me an ale." The man passed him a foaming tankard, and Elladar walked across the bar and sat in one of the booths. Taking a swig of his ale, he though, "Who could that man in the prophecy be? Ránëwén thought that the man and I probably knew each other well because we acted like old friends."
Elladar tried to think of all his friends who would have been able to acquire such fine equipment. "Maybe he's Ferdirand, from the village back at home, he always seemed to be having some sort of adventure or another, or maybe he's Eö, that man who was a close friend of my father."
Elladar continued to think of everyone he's ever known.
One and a half hours later.
"Gildor? No. Oropher? No. Valandil? No. Wait! I forgot Valens! I'll go ask him if he has heard of any one wearing magnificent armor lately."
MAVA
While recovering from my dueling wounds with Valens I overhere him talking to his scribe,"So has everyone showed up at the mansion yet? I still have a lot of preperation left. This duel took up some of my time to get all the armor and weapons together." "I wonder what that is all about?" I think to myself knowing that I will have to find out. A FEW DAYS LATER (after the healing prosess) "Scribe I need you to go to Master Valens house and drop off this letter,and wait for an answer. Hours later. "Mistress MAVA, I have news" my scribe says. "Well" "While you were recovering orders came in and we are to head to Gwohadda, Also Master Valens has headed out." Head out now and catch up to him and find out what is up with the armor and weapons. I will meet up with you along the way. GO! GO!
Retnuh
'...the chest plate feels very light...' Retnuh thought '...it could actually help in a minor battle...' as he walked down the street with one of those new chest plates by his right, '...could save a few more lives...'.
The sun had now risen from its zenith and its ray seem to reflect off the watery street. Wet it was, as the daily bunch of workers gather up taking brooms and buckets of water, cleaning the streets and wiping out dirt and garbage.
Away in the far...where the street turned rough into smaller one, Retnuh say two couples moving around in the early morning mist. He began to increase his pace to catch upto them, he smiled when the two shaped into men with one either roaming in just bare essentials or just a show off with his upper coat and shirt.
"Alright, already." Muttered Daelius as he freed his arm from the excited Valens. "I'm comin', what's so dashed fired important?" As he followed his fellow commander, he realized that he long day wasn't over and he hadn't even gotten a mug of ale first.
"I cleary don't know what you and Lord Daelius are doing early this morning, holding each others hand" Retnuh spoke from a bit behind. Valen's looked a bit startled, but Lord Daelius seem not to. Overtaking them both "Well, Valens.." Retnuh said to Valens, handing over the chest plate he carried "..if that can't be explained. Atleast hold some dignity of a noble by wearing something on your bare chest."
Valens
Valens took the extended hand and gets up.
"Ok...wow...ok now thats over with. Didn't see that one coming....right lets go in and I can explain whats going on...."
All of them started heading inside, when he noticed some more people headed toward his house.
"Hmmm...odd...ok well maybe not compared to the last few things that have happened. I wonder who is coming up here, and what they want. Ok well you two head in and my maid will give you something to eat. I will be in once I see who is coming and what they want."
