《Proven》


 Beginings: Zudeckxi, Nexar, Quey, Valsa

    <h1></a>Zu¡¯deckxi</h1>


    ¡°Did you procure what I asked for?¡± the wizard snapped.


    ¡°Yes my master, however there was one complication,¡± the goblin said.


    ¡°What complications?¡± the wizard snapped.


    ¡°Five of your servants were killed when they captured the female half-orc and she was severely injured though the rest were able to stabilize her. The male half-dragon took ten of us,¡± the goblin reported.


    ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± the wizard asked danger and menace evident in his voice like the hissing of a snake about to strike.


    The goblin hesitated for a moment and then spoke, ¡°You are the Great Wizard Xiquay, the bringer of life and death,¡± he intoned bowing to his master.


    ¡°Yes, and I have no time to hear of the failing of my servants,¡± the wizard intoned with callused menace, ¡°they died replace them and do not bother me with news such as this again.¡± He ordered.


    ¡°Now remove the reproductive organs of the half-orc and half-dragon and ready them for the surgery also drain the elf and dwarf of their blood; I trust they have been prevented from committing suicide?¡± he asked that tone of menace still in his voice.


    ¡°Yes, my master we have kept them sedated. I shall see to it that the operation is prepared immediately,¡± the goblin said bowing again. It was always best to be humble around the mad wizard.


    ¡°See that you do. Make sure that I am not disturbed until the experiment is ready to begin. Oh, and sedate the owl-bear, best to do that now no telling how long it will take for it to go through that whole body¡¯s system,¡± Xiquay said and then turned away his silk black robes brushing against the ground with the sound like that of a snake slithering over grass.


    ¡°Yes, my master,¡± the goblin said and went to complete his master¡¯s orders. The half-orc and half-dragon were slain and dissected their bodies cast into the pit. The elf and dwarf were hung from the ceiling and their blood drained. The goblin wondered at the ingenuity of his master, to create a warrior with the strength of five races a monstrosity to be sure but a wonder and great demonstration of his master¡¯s power. Another goblin approached him, Gep was his name.


    ¡°The owl-bear has been sedated and the experiment is ready,¡± he said.


    ¡°Excellent go tell the master he will want to begin immediately,¡± Het said.


    The wizard strode into the room and motioned for the goblins to begin the long-rehearsed procedure. They cut open the stomach of the owl bear not to kill it but to prepare it for implantation. They took an egg from the womb of the female half-orc. They took the sperm from the male half-dragon and placed them in a gold chalice as instructed as their master chanted the spell he had created the power filling the chalice breathing life into his creation. Geb and the goblin leader Het simultaneously took a silver pitcher for Geb and gold pitcher for Het; the silver pitcher filled with dwarven blood the gold with elven.


    They poured the blood over the rapidly forming embryo the blood steamed as the wizard took from the blood the very magic in it and filled the embryo with it; without it the embryo would never become a child the sterility of half-orcs and half-dragons would result in nothing but with the power of his magic his experiment would grow into something never seen before and of which nothing was known. The blood of orc, dragon, human, elf and dwarf would flow through its veins giving it greater strength and resilience. The wizard continued his chant his hands drawing the wards and spells and the goblins picked up chalice carefully and placed the embryo in the womb of the owl-bear.


    They would deny the creature the nurturing of a mother raised by a beast it would become an unintelligent beast to be tamed and used for his masters will. To be studied and used to protect the wizard. A goblin woman stitched up the owl-bear and the wizard ended his chant.


    ¡°Put the beast back in the pit and let me know when it has given birth make sure it does not kill the creature when it is born.¡± The wizard ordered.


    And so many months passed and the wizards experiment grew in the owl bear. When it was born and the goblin who looked at it wondered at is appearance. It was already almost as big as the goblin with blackish red scaly skin small sharp pointy ears it suckled from the owl-bear which watched the goblin waiting to rip it to shreds if it approached its hatchling-cub. The goblin ran and told Gab who informed the wizard who was taking his daily bath.


    Xiquay finished his bath dressed and came to the edge of the pit and looked at his creation. It certainly looks like a beast, he thought, if it can be tamed and isn¡¯t too smart for its own good it could be most valuable. Aloud he said, ¡°take it out of the pit in a month and put it in a cage so that I can examine it more closely,¡± he ordered and left. A month passed in which the experiment grew and wrestled with its mother which tolerated it as all carnivorous mothers do with patience while waiting for the cub to tire itself out.


    When its mother was sedated the experiment fought the goblins who entered the pit with its short nails that were filed like claws, he was chained and dragged out of the pit and into a cage to await the master. But the experiment was not content to be a tamed beast he was cunning and resourceful and picked the lock with bone by trial and error remembering the goblins sticking something in the hole to make it open. A goblin sweeping the room saw him and tried to chase him back into the cage, but he lunged like an owl-bear would slashing with his nails and biting with his teeth until the screams of the goblin brought others to its rescue. They chained him again and put him back in the cage. The wizard came and found him again picking the lock.


    ¡°A most intelligent creature and wild far to wild, throw it back into the pit when it is older and can withstand more pain you will have to beat it into submission even the most ferocious beast will cow once it understands pain,¡± Xiquay ordered.


    ¡°Is this creature not better dead master?¡± Het inquired.


    ¡°The effort to create it would be entirely wasted and do not call it creature any creation of mine no matter how flawed, reflects my brilliance no matter how broken a reflection, call it Zu¡¯deckxi, in the tongue of the ancient orcs it means he who was born a beast a fitting name for it,¡± he said with smug self-importance at naming his creation or reflection of his genius. ¡°Don¡¯t throw any more humanoid corpses in the pit I''ve heard cannibalism has all sorts of nasty side effects and I don¡¯t want the subject damaged.¡± The mad-wizard said as an after-thought.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    <h1></a>Nescar</h1>


    Nescar played in the dirt on the mountain side his family on a picnic. The sun was warm he hadn¡¯t felt it very much it wasn¡¯t sunny underground in the dwarf city. He dug in the dirt with his spade dirt was very different from stone he liked stone he could get it to do things for him. He didn¡¯t tell his parents, he was afraid it was evil, and he remembered in the stories that the manifestations destroyed evil and what if his parents told the manifestations? He didn¡¯t want to be destroyed but it felt so good to make the stones float into the air or break with a word it had happened first by accident but now if he concentrated very hard he could do it on purpose. Nescar furrowed his brow and thought very hard about the stone floating and said the word, and then stone wobbled and rose into the air.


    ¡°Nescar!¡± he heard his mother gasp.


    The stone dropped to the ground and Nescar froze, now they knew, and the manifestations would come and destroy him. What would it feel like to be destroyed? He knew it was liking dyeing but worse. Would it hurt? he wondered.


    ¡°Nescar can you do that again?¡± his mother asked bending down near him.


    ¡°Am I going to be destroyed?¡± Nescar asked.


    ¡°What?¡± his mother asked thrown by her son¡¯s train of thought.


    ¡°I thought maybe it was evil and the manifestations would come and destroy me or smite me,¡± Nescar said, he liked the word smite it was like destroyed but knights and warriors could also smite things.


    ¡°No son you¡¯re not going to be destroyed,¡± his mother said comfortingly, ¡°can you do that again?¡± his mother asked.


    Nescar thought very hard about making the rock float and it wobbled and rose back into the air for ten seconds before falling back to the ground. ¡°I can¡¯t do it for very long,¡± Nescar said.


    ¡°It¡¯s amazing you can do it all,¡± his mother muttered to herself and thought a self-taught wizard and without even a spell! ¡°How long have you been able to do this?¡± she asked her son.


    ¡°Oh, a long time,¡± Nescar answered smiling, ¡°ever since my name day when father gave me that green rock I was playing with it and made it float all the way to the ceiling,¡± he said.


    ¡°Four months,¡± his mother whispered, ¡°Come with me we will speak with your father,¡± she said, and they went to where his father was fishing in a stream.


    We¡¯ll talk to your father turned mostly into the two of them huddled together whispering saying things like ¡°are you sure¡± and ¡°yes, we must¡± and asking him the occasional question as he proudly held his father¡¯s fishing line.


    ¡°Nescar your father and I have decided to send you to the temple of Torin of the Earth-breaker fists,¡± she said.


    ¡°Where is that? Are we going on another picnic?¡± Nescar asked.


    His mother sighed, and a sad look came to her eyes, ¡°No son we will take you there, but you will stay on your own. Your father and I cannot teach you how to use magic and letting it go untrained is dangerous,¡± she said, ¡°We will visit you of course and you will be permitted to return home at certain times of the year but for the most part you will stay and study there,¡± she informed her son.


    Nescar and his parents went to the temple the next week. They stood in a line of dwarfs as the clerics and priests ushered people around giving them


    where the priests tested Nescar for magical ability and then admitted him as an acolyte. He was given a room with five other boys one other dwarf one elf and three humans. His lessons were interesting and Nescar soon learned many languages long forgotten except to scholars and the books they were written in. As his knowledge grew so did his understanding and maturity and he took great steps towards his final assignment which would end his training.


    <h1></a>Quey</h1>


    Quey was born in small goblin shack with only the midwife there to witness his birth. No star shone in the sky for him no comet raced across the skies heralding destiny in fact it was very unlikely that he would become anything more than a servant for the tribe. His mother was at the very bottom of the social hierarchy of the goblin tribe and Quey¡¯s father a nondescript goblin warrior had died when a band of adventurers had attacked them. And so, another goblin child slipped into the world with almost no one being the wiser. Quey was very unusual and his tribe a small isolated band of goblins had never seen and did not know what this meant, and they treated him in the way they treated all different than them; as a slave.


    His mother wrapped him in a blanket and fastened him in a basket on her back. It was her duty to clean the goblin warrior¡¯s dishes and the work would not stop for her to raiser her son. Quey watched the world behind his mother¡¯s back with the curiosity of an alien arriving on a new world.


    ¡°What will become of you my son?¡± his mother wondered aloud. ¡°Will you become a servant of the tribe to be kicked around or will you become a cruel warrior and die in battle?¡±


    These words entered Quey¡¯s mind and even at as an infant he understood her meaning and he found he liked neither option as both didn¡¯t seem to end well. I want to be something different, he thought, someone who is important his eyes, his bright, intelligent, yellow eyes were also different than the dull eyes of his kin and they promised a fate different for him than the rest of his tribe; but who knew? After all what is the life a goblin worth? What destiny could one of them possibly have?


    <h1></a>Valsa</h1>


    ¡°Valsa how often must we tell you the Northside of the library is forbidden to non-wizards,¡± the head librarian snapped.


    ¡°Well I assume if you counted all the times before that you¡¯ve told and added this one to it you would arrive at the precise number of times you¡¯ve told me,¡± Valsa said facetiously.


    The head librarian ground his teeth in anger. Valsa never listened to orders from him, or anyone for that matter. A talented psion she delighted in ignoring any superior¡¯s orders or instructions and doing precisely as she planned to do. This made many of the rulers and council members of the city despise her and the younger psion acolytes and wizards almost secretly worship her.


    ¡°Do you wish me to summon the guard to drag you out of here?¡± he asked venom in his voice. In truth, he wanted nothing more than to do just that and have her thrown out of the library into the streets.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be so dramatic Garret,¡± Valsa said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t speak in such a familiar tone with me, Valsa, we are not friends, I am High Librarian to you,¡± Garret snapped.


    ¡°Sure, sure Garret,¡± Valsa said using her naturally prickly nature to unsettle Garret it was one of the few things outside her studies that she delighted in doing. Valsa was not known for her conversational prowess unless it was lecturing others on what she was studying. ¡°Any way I have permission to study here,¡± she snapped back at him suddenly growing tired of the exchange as she slipped past him her head barely level with his waste.


    ¡°And pray tell who besides me has the power to grant you entrance?¡± Garret snarled his nostrils flaring in anger.


    ¡°The city magistrate, take it up with him,¡± Valsa said going back to her book and scribbling in her large notebook dismissing Garret with her body language.


    ¡°One-day Valsa this city will realize what a danger you are, and you¡¯ll find yourself without the protection of those like the magistrate,¡± Garret said spinning on his heel and leaving the gnome woman behind him oblivious to the fact he had even spoken.

 Conflict

    <h1></a>Zu¡¯deckxi</h1>


    Zu¡¯deckxi pounced the rat squealed and he broke its neck and tore into its soft flesh. He had learned to hunt in the small caves of the pit where he lived. While he was unable to measure the passage of time he knew a great deal of it had passed.


    Look-look mother, I caught another one! He shrieked to his mother who lay in a small cave near the mouth of the pit.


    Good-good, his mother screeched back to her hatchling-cub. Eat-eat, you must grow strong and eat many small beasts. If we were under the blue sky you would eat-eat big beast. But now we are under stone sky and the small two legs stay where we cannot get-get them. She shrieked and cleaned her feathers with her beak. Zu¡¯deckxi finished eating the rat and snuggled against his mother¡¯s side rubbing his bloody face against her feeling her beak rub against him as she scratched away the dirt and bugs.


    Above them Geb took in the size of Zu¡¯deckxi how five feet tall after seven years he had grown slowly but steadily on the rats and scraps thrown down into the pit. It looks big enough to start training now, Geb thought, best we start now before it gets too big to control. That day while waiting on his master at dinner Geb brought up the subject.


    ¡°My master, do you recall the experiment you created seven years ago?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Oh yes the mixing of races wasn¡¯t it what of it? I do hope it isn¡¯t dead,¡± he said.


    ¡°No, my master however I believe it has reached a size large enough for us to train and I fear if we allow it to grow larger we will miss the opportunity,¡± he said bowing to his master.


    ¡°By all means, remove it from the pit, oh and kill the owl-bear it¡¯s too closely bonded to the experiment and has out lived its usefulness,¡± Xiquay ordered.


    ¡°At once my master,¡± Geb said bowing.


    Zu¡¯deckxi was asleep when he heard it the sound of something hitting the floor of the pit. He opened one eyelid a two leg! He leapt at it not pausing to let it get the drop on him. Enemies-enemies mother! He shrieked as he tackled the creature to the ground and went for its throat. Hands grabbed his shoulder and held him back and a net was dropped over him. Zu¡¯deckxi thrashed.


    His mother roared and ear-piercing shrill sound and all the goblins flinched. Did die! She shrieked and leapt out of the cave catching one goblin in the chest and ripping out his internal organs. The goblins scattered and Zu¡¯deckxi¡¯s heart leapt his mother would save him! Then a spear from above hit her in the shoulder. Death-death, hatchling stealers! She shrieked but spears continued to fall and her shrieks grew weaker until she fell to the earth staring at her hatching-pup her black orbed eyes glazed over and Zu¡¯deckxi whimpered. He wailed and snarled his grief as the goblins left the corpse of his mother on the pit floor and hauled him out of it in the net.


    His arms were chained to either sides of the wall and his legs fastened to floor with yet more chains. The black robbed wizard came and examined him ignoring the snarling and spittle that dripped from the his mouth like a wild dog.


    ¡°He is a wild one,¡± Xiquay monologued, ¡°they will have to beat that out of him. And he shrieks like an owl-bear they will have to teach him how to speak common though I doubt he¡¯ll ever be good at it, his intelligence will always be hampered from being raised as a beast. The wizard smiled at this, ¡°but that is for the best; no sense in having an intelligent brute like that he would be far too dangerous to keep around, and I would hate to have to dispose of such an interesting experiment.¡±


    Days of whipping turned to weeks and then to months as the goblins whipped him and showed him objects saying the objects name in common and whipping Zu¡¯deckxi until he repeated it. Zu¡¯deckxi resisted but gave in saying the word in a harsh voice still like that of an animal.


    ¡°He¡¯s not a very bright beast I¡¯ve shown him this knife five times and he still can¡¯t remember what it¡¯s called,¡± Geb said too Het in goblin.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t need to be able to talk back just to follow orders,¡± Het said in common.


    But Geb was wrong Zu¡¯deckxi was very bright the mixing of gnome and elven blood had created an intellect that only needed a modicum of stimulation to draw from. He had already learned to understand every word they were saying and could also understand them when they spoke in goblin. Zu¡¯deckxi however did not want to give them the satisfaction of watching him obey and he sensed it was better to hide the fact that he could speak. At night he muttered to himself practicing the strange words. He learned how the goblins and human in black robes measured time and learned how he had been created. Zu¡¯deckxi felt angry, it burned deep within him like the fire of a dragon. How dare they create him and call him a monster, kill his mother whip him like a beast of burden but Zu¡¯deckxi was crafty as he was angry and waited and watched. He watched the wizard come to this room to preform spells.


    Magic, this was something that Zu¡¯deckxi had never seen nor dreamed of. He watched the gestures the wizard made with his hands summoning fire, creating acid that burned the flesh of his prisoner he captured when they came to the tower to steal from him. He watched his necromancy as he raised piles of bones into moving creatures. He watched him read from a black book and his eyes learned to follow the words that the wizard read to say the words himself. Zu¡¯deckxi allowed himself to submit and finally the goblins brought him before the wizard.


    ¡°Do you know who I am?¡± the wizard asked.


    ¡°You are master,¡± Zu¡¯deckxi said deliberately growly and slow like a dim beast would.


    ¡°Yes, I am, and do you serve me?¡± Xiquay asked staring into Zu¡¯deckxi¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Yes master,¡± Zu¡¯deckxi said dropping a knee and bowing slowly fighting against the urge to leapt and kill this wizard. This single action of bowing was the hardest thing he had ever done. ¡®And I will never do it again,¡¯ Zu¡¯deckxi promised himself.


    ¡°Put him in the gatehouse to guard there,¡± the wizard said to Geb.


    ¡°Yes, my master,¡± Geb said bowing and leading Zu¡¯deckxi to the gate house. There was an iron barred cell in the gate house where Geb left Zu¡¯deckxi he considered the cell and saw an old man reading from a book.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Zu¡¯deckxi asked.


    ¡°I was a priest but now I¡¯m just a prisoner,¡± the old man said. His head was bald, and he had a long dirty beard and wore what looked like a mixture of rags and old grain sack.


    ¡°What is that?¡± Zu¡¯deckxi asked pointing at the book.


    ¡°It¡¯s a book,¡± the priest said.


    ¡°Of what?¡± Zu¡¯deckxi asked.


    ¡°The Pantheon of the manifestations,¡± the priest answered.


    ¡°Can you teach me to read?¡± Zu¡¯deckxi asked.


    The priest stared at him for a minute while he thought. ¡°Perhaps but I¡¯ll need something in return for every lesson I give you, you must give me half of your food,¡± the priest said.


    ¡°Deal,¡± Zu¡¯deckxi said.


    For many months Zu¡¯deckxi stood guard at the gatehouse and studied with the priest, he enjoyed reading but the stories of the manifestations made him angry. Where were the manifestations when he was beaten? When his mother was killed? What manifestation watched over the monsters and beasts? The more he thought about it the more he grew to hate the notion of the manifestations. His hate grew and spilled over those who controlled the lives of other deserved to die even if they were manifestations; he had to kill them and he would start with his master who thought himself a manifestation.


    ¡°I¡¯ve told you a thousand times not to throw out the master¡¯s bathwater the window your leaving stains on the tower,¡± he heard Geb shout at another goblin and slap him.


    An idea sparked in Zu¡¯deckxi¡¯s mine a dark malicious idea. He practiced the spell he would need to use memorizing it and doing it over and over on larger and larger scales. Finally, he was ready, so he took his club strode over to the tower door and knocked on it.


    A goblin opened to door and looked at him, ¡°Go back to you post if you want something you can tell the servant who brings you your food and..¡± the goblin never got any farther as Zu¡¯deckxi clubbed him across the head caving in his skull. Zu¡¯deckxi had grown nearly half a foot sense leaving the pit. His bones where thick and his muscles strengthened with each day. He crept down the hallway and up the stairs and peered into the room where the wizard was bathing his head resting on the lip of the tub.


    Zu¡¯deckxi whispered and cast the spell. Xiquay looked up too see Zu¡¯deckxi standing in the doorway before he could demand to know what he was doing the water in his tub turned to acid. His flesh was burned away in an instant and his bones soon dissolved after and his head toppled off the lip of the tub and to the floor.


    ¡°Now I have no master,¡± Zu¡¯deckxi said and took the black spell book from where it lay on a side table near the tub. ¡°And I will never have a master again,¡± he promised himself.


    <h1></a>Kayda</h1>


    ¡°Kayda hold your bow tightly it¡¯s not going to break,¡± Kayda¡¯s father said to her. He was a lieutenant of the Forest Guard the fifth generation of her family to join the Forest Guard and Kayda was determined to follow in her family¡¯s footsteps. As an only child it was her duty. She gripped the bow tighter and pulled back the string with two fingers all the way to her pointed elven ear. She let go of the breath she had been holding and fired the arrow letting it arc across the sky and thud into the target a hairs breath from entering the Feslater circle of the target.


    ¡°Keep practicing Kayda and you¡¯ll certainly be a member of the Forest Guard. My watch starts in an hour, so I¡¯ve got to go I¡¯ll see you at dinner,¡± he said giving his only daughter a kiss on the top of her head and disappearing through the trees.


    Kayda drew another arrow from her quiver pulled back and let it loose and it pierced the Feslater of the target, a second arrow whistled and struck directly beside it. Kayda turned and saw Andres his own longbow in hand. He smiled at her his cocky boy grin and she smiled back.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got to keep practicing if I¡¯m going to keep up with you and join the Forest Guard,¡± he said.


    ¡°Your fathers captain of the guard so there is little chance you wouldn¡¯t be let in even if you couldn¡¯t hit the side of a moose¡¯s back,¡± she teased him.


    Andres clutched at his chest as if stabbed with a mocking look of pain in his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m hurt that you would even suggest such a thing,¡± he said.


    Kayda laughed took up the stance with her bow again and let loose her arrow which spilt Andres¡¯s arrow down the middle. ¡°You¡¯d better practice harder if you think you can best me,¡± she said tossing back her silk dark brown hair her green eyes flashing.


    Andres fired again, and his arrow entered the center circle but did not split her arrow. ¡°Alas the lass has bested me forever shall I live out my days in shame in the shadow of her greatness,¡± he said with his signature drama.


    ¡°Careful else you end up an actor instead of a guard,¡± she said laughing.


    ¡°And you less you end up a huntress with that fine bow of yours,¡± he said.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll be a guard, I can feel it; it¡¯s my destiny,¡± she said with absolute certainty.


    <h1></a>Quey</h1>


    Quey watched the goblin festivities from a high tree, the other goblin children always bullied him because he acted so differently from them not being subservient or aggressive just watching them, it made them nervous. The goblin warriors had just finished raiding a large homestead and were celebrating the spoils or war they had won. Quey watched them from afar he enjoyed watching seeing how others behaved copying them trying to become like them, but he never felt comfortable in the role of a goblin warrior and it seemed to make him stand out even more.


    He was a very quiet child, the others called him sneaky because he made not a sound as he entered a room and it would be often several minutes before his presence was noticed even if he was standing in the middle of the room. His mother had died a year ago and Quey had been left to take over her duties of washing the dishes for the entire tribe and for the most part tried to stay out of everyone¡¯s way and use his talent of not being seen.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    A hunting horn sounded in the distance, only Quey heard it the rest of the goblins were deaf to anything but the drums and cheering of the feast. Quey looked to where the sound was coming from and saw men clumsily moving through the trees, but the goblins still didn¡¯t notice them. Not wanting to give away his position Quey plucked a pinecone and threw and hit a goblin warrior in the head.


    The goblin warrior whirled around drawing his knife ready to teach a lesson to whichever of the goblins had dared to hit him. An arrow took the warrior through the chest and fell to the ground blood spitting out of his mouth in his final death throws. The rest of the goblins screamed rushed for weapons or tried to flee but the humans surrounded them and slaughtered them. Some of the goblin warriors were able to get to their weapons and they fought bravely taking a few humans with them but soon all that was left was a field of goblin corpses.


    Quey stayed hidden in the trees making no sounds that might give away his hiding place. The humans searched the bodies and houses taking all the goblins treasure and loot the goblin warriors had taken in battle. A cart rolled in and they tossed all the weapons and armor in it and then turned and left. Quey was fascinated by the humans, all his life the goblin warriors had seemed indestructible only this morning, yet these human warriors had killed them all. Despite his fear of the humans Quey was also drawn to them and as they began to leave he silently climbed down from the pine tree and followed them. He noticed in the grass a fine steel dagger the humans had over looked or dropped and picked it up.


    Never had Quey¡¯s owned something as fine as this and it awakened in him the beginning of a desire to have more, to be more than he was and to do what the humans had done what the warriors had done to take from others so that he could have more. Quey¡¯s sensed that the humans were the way to that dream that they would be how, so he followed them keeping to the shadows and trailing behind. After three days they came within sight of huge stone houses, more houses than Quey had ever seen, more than a hundred goblin villages, with a great stone house, a castle yes that was a castle rising from the middle of it like a mountain. This is a city Quey realized matching the stories he had heard to the sight he saw now.


    Quey jumped into a cart full of hay and wriggled in hiding himself and waited until he was passed the city wall. Than he scuttled out of the cart and into the street and down an alley. He felt along the wall and began noticing subtle scratches in the stone and began following them deeper down the warren of alleys. He came to a black door with a red symbol like an upside-down v with a line underneath it. The door opened and Quey found himself grabbed and pulled into a large dark room stacked with crates. He was dragged down a hall and taken up a flight of stairs and shoved into a room with a table with men seated around it. The men where all dressed in black, dark blue, dark red like dried blood and dark brown so that they were like shadows.


    ¡°Who is this?¡± the man in black at the head of the table asked.


    ¡°A goblin we found at the back door don¡¯t know how he got there me made it past all the sentries without being spotted,¡± the man who had dragged Quey here said, ¡°All he had was this dagger.¡± He said tossing the fine steel dagger, so it stuck in the table.


    ¡°That¡¯s the dagger of the captain of the guard, how did you get this?¡± a man in dark blue asked Quey.


    ¡°I took it,¡± Quey said.


    ¡°A thief who could steal the dagger off the captain of the guard would make a most valuable asset,¡± said the man at the head of the table. ¡°What is your name goblin?¡±


    ¡°I am Quey,¡± Quey answered deciding not to mention he had just picked the dagger up off the ground where it had most likely fallen.


    ¡°Tell me Quey what do you want?¡± the man asked.


    Before he could even think of an answer his mouth answered for him, ¡°more,¡± he said.


    The man smiled and stood raising a silver goblet. ¡°Welcome Quey to the Thieves Guild,¡± he toasted and all the other men rose and toasted Quey as well.


    <h1></a>Nescar</h1>


    Nescar rose from his bunk bed and went to the temple shrine for his daily prayers. It was his fifteenth birthday and today he would receive his assignment and if he succeeded he would graduate from the temple as an Stone Cleric of Torin the manifestation of earth, after mastering all the basic elemental spells of earth. He finished praying and asking for blessing on his venture and rose and went to the high priest¡¯s office and knocked on the door.


    ¡°Enter,¡± the high priest said and Nescar pushed open the doors. ¡°Ah Nescar come for your assignment good to see your getting an early start. The town of Pine-press is suffering from a plague you are to enter it and heal them and if the plague is of magical origin put a stop to it.¡± The high priest said, ¡°a mule is already loaded with all the equipment you will need go and may the manifestations watch over you,¡± the high priest said and dismissed him.


    Nescar hurried to the temple court yard and took the map and mules reins and led the pack mule down the mountain. Over the next three days he traveled south east until he arrived at Pine-press. The houses were all made of wood and there was no one on the streets. His instructions told him the sick were all in the town hall. So he headed there the town hall had a large town square where market was held and the town well was in the Feslater. Nescar tied his mule to a post and knocked on the door he heard groaning and opened the door.


    The floor was entirely taken up with mats where people lay coughing and moaning red blisters covering their skin. Nescar went around changing bed sheets and rubbing salves on the wounds and giving people water for two days but the sickness only grew worst. The sickness he learned had been very sudden only a few people who lived outside of town had not gotten ill but after a few days of tending the sick they too had come down with the illness.


    Nescar sat and thought going through his notes as he looked at the side effects he realized something, ¡°It¡¯s not a sickness its poison, and a rare one at that,¡± he said aloud. But how? How could a whole village be poisoned they all ate different foods¡­ the water! They all drank the same water! Nescar himself had only been drinking from his water and wine skin. Nescar felt a tremor of fear realizing he had been one drink away from becoming deathly sick like the villagers.


    ¡°The poison must be in the well, I shall have to go down and see what it is and put an end to it,¡± Nescar declared resolving himself and turning his emotions into stone one of the mind techniques taught to the clerics of Torin. Pushing himself to his feet and taking a rope from his mule¡¯s saddle bags the mule wasn¡¯t looking very well. He had drunk the water, Nescar realized and felt pity for his stubborn friend. Nescar tied the rope securely took his hand axe in one hand and spell book tucked under his arm and lowered himself down the well. The water came up to his chin and flowed from and underground river and slowly drained away. There was a large cave down here. Nescar waded out of the well onto the shore of the cave and looked around. He could see nothing in the darkness.


    ¡°I need light,¡± Nescar said.


    Nescar quickly cast his earthen light spell and touched a boulder, immediately light filled the large cave emanating from the glowing boulder. Plants were at the bottom of the well growing around the water, caster-oil-plants, lilies of the valley, black nightshade and even common poison ivy grew in the dirt cracks through the stones. He looked about and then looked up and dived to the side. A massive oozing green slime fell where he had been and began sliding uphill towards him. Purple lines went through its green smile leaking out like ichor and spread on the rocks behind it and into pools of water. This is the creature poisoning the village. The Poisonous Ochre Jelly was a large and dangerous slime rare and a threat to the land for miles around it. Despite the villages suffering it was only a fraction of what the damage it would unleash if it continued to grow in size and its poison in potency as it absorbed more of the poisons from the plants growing down here. There weakness is slashing and lightning Nescar remembered as he retreated up the cave. He knew a powerful earth shattering spell no lightening based cleric spells but he still lacked the experience to cast it and the one he knew required him to be very close, we¡¯ll cross that bridge when we come to it Nescar decided and prepared to cast his spell he fired and struck the ochre jelly throwing a rock which struck the jelly stopping in the Feslater of it; the stone shattering into blades and cutting the quarters that began to slide apart as the jelly began to collapse in on itself.


    Nescar laughed in triumph and then the ochre jelly split into two slightly smaller ochre jellies and moved to either side of him. ¡®Crap¡¯ he thought ¡®was that weakness to lightening and slashing or resistant?¡¯ oh well I¡¯ll have to dispatch them quickly, or find something Nescar though and prepared his lightning spell, strictly speaking the spell in question was not the spell of a cleric but a wizard but Nescar had thought it best to study more than just the cleric spells. Nescar cast his spell the only lightninging based spell he knew, electricity ran along his fingers and he ran and slammed his fist into the jelly on his left and it split into two small jellies.


    Nescar focused on the medium sized jelly he had little mana left and this spell would use the last of if up and he would have to rest before he could cast anymore. He spoke the words of magic let his hands make the gestures a stone the size of his rose in front of the air in front of the larger ochre jelly and exploded into stone shrapnel. The ochre jelly split into two smaller jellies leaving four of them. With no mana left Nescar drew his axe and attacked slashing into the nearest jelly is splashed into slime on the ground and evaporated. The other jelly jumped at his head and he struck at it the remaining two jumped at the same time and Nescar was only able to take out one of them the other landed on his chest and it began to burn from the ochre jellies poisonous acid. Nescar fought for purchase on the slimy ooze and finally flung it off by grabbing at the core inside it and dashed it against the rocks splattering it against the rocks.


    Nescar lay there for an hour before getting to his feet and slowly climbing up the rope and out of the well. He then boiled all the water before giving it to others. After a day everyone looked much better except for the ones who had been more poisoned. Nescar used what little mana he had recovered to heal them but soon it was gone and the man he now tended was dying.


    ¡°Please you must save him he¡¯s my father,¡± the man¡¯s daughter pleaded.


    ¡°He is past my level of experience in magic and I have no more mana left,¡± Nescar tried to explain, ¡°Your best option is for me to give him medicine to take away his pain, I could slow his death at best but the pain he is would make that inhumane and at that point he would beyond even my magic to heal.¡±


    ¡°Then when he¡¯s dead you can bring him back that will give your mana time to recharge if you slow his death. I saw it done to an adventurer who fell in battle as long as he only died a minute ago you can bring him back,¡± she insisted desperately.


    Nescar was horrified he knew the spell she was talking about, but he had never studied it. Necromancy was a black art and death was sacred a time when one met the manifestations and bringing anyone back from it was sacrilegious. ¡°I never learned any necromancy, the dead must be left in peace. I¡¯m sorry there¡¯s nothing I can do for your father but help ease his passing,¡± Nescar told her and she buried her face in her father¡¯s chest and wept.


    Nescar stayed in the village for two more weeks helping everyone get back to strength and burying the dead. Four people died because of the ochre¡¯s poison and Nescar stayed for their funerals and then returned to the temple. He stabled the mule and then walked to the high priest¡¯s office. He knocked on the door and waited.


    ¡°Enter,¡± he high priest said and Nescar went in and stood before the high priest desk. ¡°I have received many letters from the villagers most were grateful but one young lady blames you for the death of her father a girl named Ethalpin she says you were incompetent and allowed her father to die,¡± the high priest said and waited for Nescar¡¯s response.


    ¡°I had used up all my mana and the spell required to heal him was beyond my grasp. The young lady Ethalpin also wished me revivify him when he died but I told her I did not know the spell for reasons you are aware of your excellency,¡± Nescar responded.


    The high priest knodded, ¡°it is as I suspected. Do not worry know one besides the girl blames you and that will fade once she has time to grieve; you did all you could and for that I salute you,¡± the high priest said rising and bowing to Nescar. ¡°You are truly a credit to your teachers and a fine graduate of the temple of Torin, as a cleric your path is now yours to choose under the direct guidance of Torin of course.¡± He said sitting back down. ¡°Tell me what will you do know?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I wish to travel to Camsell and train as a healer your excellency,¡± Nescar replied bowing to the high priest.


    ¡°A most noble profession and one that will compliment your studies as a cleric. I wish you luck lad take the mule you had on your testing it will help carry all your belongings, fair well Nescar,¡± the high priest said dismissing him. Nescar bowed again and then left to begin his training as a healer.


    <h1></a>Vasla</h1>


    Valsa drew the pentacle on the smooth stone floor of the room she had instructed to be built for her experiments. She had drawn three pentacles in the room, one for her and the other two for her experiment. She demised that if manifestations and demons could travel on different planes than a spell might allow someone or something to teleport to the realm and reappear back in the world in a completely different location. As long as you could control where the thing ended up the spell could be used to do many great things troops could circumvent walls by teleporting to the other side beyond even the blocking of magic. She would begin by trying to teleport a firebomb from one pentacle to the other. She had studied summoning and teleportation as well as demonology in preparation for this moment.


    She began the chant but before she could even fully get the experiment underway the door burst open and armed city guard and mages filed in led by, that ridiculous fool Garret the High Liberian.


    ¡°Valsa Mormont you are under arrest for practicing the dark arts, endangering the lives of citizens of the city and defying the laws of magic,¡± he said with a viscous gleam in his eyes.


    Valsa sighed, she would have to endure a few weeks in a cell, hours of lectures at her trail, be restricted from the library for... Garret spoke again breaking her out of her thoughts.


    ¡°You are to be exile, your research and experiments will be burned, and you are never to return to Amcrop under pain of death,¡± he said smiling at the horror on her face, relishing his power over her.


    Exile she could live with, never retuning as well, but the destruction of her research, years of her life down the drain that was too much for her to take. She reached under her robe produced a firebomb and hurled it at the guards and mages, they dived for cover accept for Garret who stood their frozen by fear. She grabbed her notebook and books and threw them in a sack that she kept on hand in case of emergencies. It was time to see if her experiment could work on a larger scale, no time for lab tests it was time for field work.


    ¡°I hate field work,¡± Vasla said crossly and stepped into the pentacle.


    The firebomb behind her exploded but her conFeslatration did not waver as she chanted her spell either it would succeed, or she would die. She felt her soul every ounce of her being ripped from the world and she entered the plane of earth the dominion of Torin manifestation of earth. There were trees all around her no time to waist and see if and angry manifestation showed up and she began the second half of the spell thinking very hard about where she wanted to end up. Once again, she felt her body and soul being ripped and she appeared outside of Amcrop. She walked down the road and noticed a wanted poster and stopped as she saw her own face on it. WANTED: Valsa Mormont for the practice of the dark arts and the murder of Garret Trebane High Librarian of Amcrop. Subject is a female gnome blond hair, weighing 170lb, a psion and mage extremely dangerous reward of 700gp will be paid to anyone with a bounty hunter liFeslase who delivers her dead or alive to an outpost of the Amcrop mage-guild. Believed to be capable of illegal teleportation as well as summoning magic, a mater techno mancer and psion and basic elemental wizard extremely dangerous, magic users advised when dealing with her.


    Damn it, Valsa thought, that is going to make it much harder to complete my research. She looked at the date of the notice it was ten days since she had entered the plane.


    ¡°I shall have to calculate time into my spell as well as space,¡± Valsa said and walked off with her bag of books.