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Post by Louis Cypher on Jan 30, 2017 16:06:50 GMT
Hearing the dwarf descend down the stairs, Louis could bear it no longer. He reached out his hand and picked up the rod, reasoning that if the dwarf returned he could just tell him he was inspecting it, just academic curiosity.
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Post by Dungeon Master on Jan 30, 2017 23:43:09 GMT
When Louis touched the steel rod he felt an instant connection, if he had been asked he would have said that this rod had been crafted for him and him alone. He could feel the mark of Hadar floating in the rod drift to his hand, and could feel his connection with the negative power growing inside of him. He knew a bit of magical items, and knew this item would allow him to channel more energy and focus his skills better.
Then Louis heard the loud clumping boots of the dwarf coming up the stairs.
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Post by Louis Cypher on Jan 31, 2017 3:32:32 GMT
Louis gingerly set the rod back on the table, begrudgingly releasing his hold on it as he heard the dwarf ascending back up the stairs. He returned his attention to his tea as his host came back into view.
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Post by Dungeon Master on Jan 31, 2017 4:38:06 GMT
Daveth walked to his seat and placed a plate with two quarters of a lemon. He lifted it up an moved to his cup of tea. He squeezed the lemon, and juice squirted out into his tea. He raised the pulp and rind to his mouth and swallowed it down barely chewing. He watched Louis closely as his mouth moved in a determined way. "You said you did not really understand the powers of a warlock... do you have any questions about my..." He grumbled deep in his throat, before adding, "My calling?"
Daveth glanced at the rod, and then looked back to Louis. He suddenly smiled slightly, it was difficult to tell under his dark black beard.
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Post by Louis Cypher on Jan 31, 2017 4:46:52 GMT
"Is that why you asked me here?" Louis inquired, ignoring his own lemon wedge, apparently satisfied with his tea as it was. "You want your story told? A memoir recorded for posterity. I would have brought quill and parchment if I had known."
"Very well, how did you first come into contact with this otherworldly master? Did you see him...it?...out or were you chosen?"
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Post by Dungeon Master on Jan 31, 2017 5:14:52 GMT
Daveth turned away from Louis for a moment and then his hand moved to his long beard and tugged. He spoke with a distant voice when he replied, "Don't ever write this down but I wanted some one to know."
The dwarf's voice cracked and he needed a sip of tea before he could tell his tale. He drank and licked his lips once. "I was a young man below the Khuroc Range on a patrol for my clan. We had just destroyed the heads of three flayers. Only two others of my clan had survived and we're trekking home when we found a tower of alabaster marble. The tower was ancient beyond our understanding. I did not know it at the time but the mountains had grown up around the tower, burying it inside tons of stone."
Daveth paused again, his gravelly voice shook as he carried on. "The door had a writing upon it none of us understood. We opened it. I do not know what happened to my cousins. They were simply gone when I awoke."
"When that door opened..." He drank again before finishing. "I do not know who built that tower but it's purpose was to keep Hadar from touching our world... And I let him in." He trailed off and seemed confused for a moment. His hand tugged even harder at his black beard.
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Post by Louis Cypher on Jan 31, 2017 22:56:57 GMT
Louis struggled to maintain the same impassive expression he had, doing his best to indicate interest in the tale without giving away his deeper excitement at learning more about his master and mixed emotions at this dwarf being indirectly responsible for the death of his family. It was not much different than the dice game, except here the stakes were higher.
"Why serve this Hadar then, if you regret loosing him?" he inquired, leaning forward, hand inching back towards the rod seemingly of its on volition. "Why call him master?"
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Post by Dungeon Master on Feb 1, 2017 0:07:46 GMT
Daveth looked into Louis eye with a knowing look, and spoke simply, "Why would any one do that... the power. I wanted the power. You would not understand..." His eyebrows crinkled slightly at those words, "But being filled with his power is addictive. It is so alien to this world... we can not truly understand him... or his desires. He is a thing of black nothingness that does not seem to end. I believe I am no more then a small parasite to him. Something so meaningless he could not care less that use his power as my own."
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Post by Louis Cypher on Feb 1, 2017 1:05:14 GMT
"And here I had come to believe you Verdant Cabal were all a selfless lot, beyond such petty grasping for power," Louis remarked, knowing better about human nature, and knowing even better about the lure of Hadar's dark power. He considered enlightening Daveth that he was not alone...but they were all alone, insignificant specks before the Dark Hunger. "So he does not so much command you as tolerate you, it seems."
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Post by Dungeon Master on Feb 1, 2017 3:33:56 GMT
"I doubt he even notices my presence... I am like a worm in his bowels. Living off his excrement. These are all metaphors of course." Daveth replied and he rubbed his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Though I am certain that he did notice our world. Opening that door is like a beacon. I have tried and tried to close it... but here two hundred years later... that door lies open. Casting a light in the dark for him."
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Post by Louis Cypher on Feb 10, 2017 7:06:51 GMT
"Charming," Louis replied, with a grimace at the metaphor. "I am grateful you did not provide snacks with the tea."
"Well, if he has not capitalized on two centuries of an open door, perhaps there is little to concern yourself with. Maybe he is waiting for an invitation?"
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Post by Dungeon Master on Feb 10, 2017 18:24:40 GMT
"To us two hundred years is a long time. Why not even your great-grandfather was born that long ago. Time does not flow for my master. He sits outside it in the blind eternities." Daveth picked up the steel rod and offered it to Louis. "Take this.... With it I can show you the door I mentioned."
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