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* * CADEMIA * *
The Two-Tailed Rat is a fine little inn, though its location in the heart of the Cademian slums keeps the elite away. Apis brought Timon and Jehezekel food in their room, they did not want their location to be generally known. Timon started devouring the food immediately, but Jehezekel paused a moment to appreciate his first meal in Cademia. The tray was covered in food: a few thawed grapes, a bottle of Northshore Red wine, bread, a cheese wheel... Jehezekel chuckled, "Always knew Mom's cheese was the best! See, her trade mark on the linen wrapping!" Timon grunted and kept eating, Jehezekel joined in energetically, there was silence for the next few minutes.
At last Timon spoke, "You have a hard destiny boy. How do you plan to live long enough to fulfill it?"
"I dunno, follow Tavara's advice I guess. Help you out, and while the Seldane are busy watching you, jab 'em in the back!"
"Heh heh, That sounds like a good plan to me, I get the glory, you get the loot. Deal?"
"That means room and board until the balance is restored. Right?"
"Right. Including training and we'll grab you a decent weapon off a ruffian."
"Deal."
*CRASH* The door flew across the room. "This is the Cademian Underground Police Force. The security of Cademia has been breached. Remove everything and leave the building quietly. The offending object is believed to be amongst your things."
Timon groaned, "Yes officer, just a moment." He turned as if to remove his things, grabbed a couple knives off the dresser, and flung them toward the man in the doorway. *Thock-Thunk* the man fell to the ground, dead. Jehezekel stared unbelievingly. "Here's your weapon," Timon said and handed him the man's sword, "and your first lesson: If anyone makes ludicrous demands of you, no matter how good of a reason he offers for it, he's a ruffian." Jehezekel nodded, "Plus, you see this mark on his wrist? He's a member of Eudoxus' Gang."
Suddenly, two figures loomed up behind him, bigger than the first. Timon spun around and started slashing at one, and Jehezekel swung his new sword at the other. *Crash* the blade shattered under the impact. Timon finished off his man, and Jehezekel grabbed his mace, it too shattered when he attacked another ruffian. On and on through the streets of Cademia it continued, until they reached the door that all the ruffians were coming out of. Timon drove the ruffians back while Jehezekel distracted them by breaking weapons on them.
The room was small, dark, and dank. How all those ruffians could have fit in, Jehezekel had no idea. Timon walked around the edges, tapping on the wall. tip-tip, tip-tip, tip-tip, tip-top He stopped walking; thump, thump, thump, "hmm, I wonder what opens this door?"
Jehezekel was starting to feel depressed, "Maybe I should try wielding it." He snarled, "It would probably shatter like all my weapons." He kicked at the ground, slipped, sat down hard. "OW!"
"Lesson two: Keep active, never mope. If life is hard, you're probably making progress."
"Fine." He stood up, stretched, spun around, jumped at the secret door, kicked off of it, and grabbing a window ledge, hefted himself through the window. There was a clanking noise, and the secret door opened. A moment later Jehezekel was back inside, "Ha Hah! If I can't use a weapon, I hope the enemy loves puzzles!"
Timon smiled, "That reminds me, since you are supposed to be my assistant, you must carry the excess baggage, here's your first item." He held out something that looked much like a pipe, but at the end where the bowl of the pipe should be, was the fire-orb, held in place by a claw of the wood. Jehezekel took it and stuck it in the pouch on his belt. "And here's three more wands, I haven't found the last three orbs yet." Jehezekel added them to his pouch.
They made their way down a ladder and along a narrow passageway. At the end of the passage were three doors. The snoring sound from the right revealed that room to be a barracks, the room infront of them was silent, and from the room to the left they could hear a lively quarrel.
Timon grinned, and nodded toward the left door, they listened closely for a few minutes.
Voice1: "... But think of all the power you'd have if you joined us!"
Voice2: "You saw what I did to your champion, he didn't get past the first round! You promised me a good fight."
Voice1: "I admitted it already, you are a better fighter than I imagined. But you should have seen him before he joined us! If you joined us, we could make you at least five times as strong as you are now!"
Voice2: "And at what price? My freedom, My honor, and My lifestyle. I wouldn't sacrifice that to be the LandKing himself! Now you give me my pay instantly, and I'll leave, and tell no one about you."
Voice1: "Think you can push me around, eh? We'll see about that. GOLEM! GOLEM!"
The next moment Timon and Jehezekel jumped back as the silent room burst open and five Golems went rushing into the left-hand room. But Timon was quicker, and clove the last one in half from the head down.
Voice1: "Join us now or face the Pentagon!"
Voice2: "I don't mean to be rude, but a pentagon is a five sided shape."
Voice1: "So?! Artistic licence."
Voice2: "Yeah, but I only see four Golems."
Voice1: "WHAT?!?!?! one, two, three, four. um.. one, two, three, f-four. WHERE'S MY FIFTH GOLEM!!!"
Jehezekel drew the fire-orb wand out of his pouch and motioned toward the golems, Timon nodded.
*FWooSH* Three golems returned to the dust from which they were formed. *Crack-Crunch* *'YAH'-Crash* the last golem crumbled into rubble.
Voice2: "Timon? Is that you? Come in!"
They walked into the room, there was a large table in the middle covered with the remains of what looked like a minor feast, a man half-sat at the head of the table, a short distance away an old man wearing beggar's garb stood in a martial stance.
"Meleager! You old rascal!" Timon greeted the old man, "What are you doing here? Didn't your boss like your new gauntlets?"
"Too old to fight!" grinned Meleager sadly, "Trying to make an honest penny in my forced retirement. How's the sword of Heros working out for you?"
The man at the head of the table scowled, "Just you wait 'till my gang returns from raiding the inn, THEN we'll see if you have time for small-talk."
"Your band?" Jehezekel asked innocently, "I hope they weren't planning to attack our inn, because-"
"Hah!" the man laughed. "Country boy, there's only one inn in town and that's the Two-Tailed Rat. You'd have been glad to be somewhere else hiding from them."
"-Because," Jehezekel continued, "Timon slaughtered just such a gang, on the way over."
"Bah! That's nothing. Just wait until my gang returns, then you can talk about slaughter. If you live through it."
"Hey, Meleager?" Asked Timon, "How many rounds did it take this half-wit to figure out who was winning the fight earlier?"
"Actually, he figured it out before round two, but he did call me by the wrong name for awhile there!"
"Grrr, When my contact returns, and finds what you've done to us... 'shlict'"
"Yeah, to you. They'll have more trouble than that from us."
Eventually they learned that someone had hired the gang to collect all the items all the items in the Two-Tailed Rat and throw them down the crack, in return they were given five golems as a down payment, and were promised 100,000 Oboloi upon completion. There was still a week left to complete the transaction- exactly the amount of time Timon had paid for their room at the inn.
The next morning, (or what passed for morning in that dark time,) Timon paid for another week on the room, and for an equal amount of time on a second room; Meleager was joining them. Then they packed their bags, tipped Apis heavily, and left Cademia.
* * EIONEUS * *
"Where are we going now?" asked Jehezekel.
"To get you a decent weapon," Replied Timon. "I know a man who can make a legendary blade out of a pen knife, he lives in the mountains."
All that day they journeyed, and as the twilit day deepened into night they reached a cave in the mountains. "His workshop should be in here somewhere."
Down, down, down. Into the very bowels of the earth they traveled, until the frigid air of the surface gave way to the cool air of the caverns, and the cool cavern air gave way to the sultry air of a blacksmith's shop. Still they continued, and at last even the sultry air was replaced by the raging heat of a kiln. Suddenly the miasma of heat-bent light gave way, and they entered a pleasant place.
"Timon! How are you doing? Not here for a new blade I hope!"
"Why else would I visit? But my blade's fine. I need one for a friend, he can't seem to keep a weapon for more than five seconds before he breaks it!"
"Hmm, I see you have two companions, and neither of them have weapons. Which is it?"
"No weapons?" Laughed Meleager, "Do not be so quick to trust your eyes. See these gauntlets? They are more effective than most weapons." He said as he exhibited his skills on a practise dummy.
"Meleager!? I thought I would never get to meet you! Can I have your autograph?"
While Meleager signed his name in Eioneus' grimoire, Jehezekel looked at the swords on his weapon rack. "Go ahead, try one out. I can't make you a new one, it's too dangerous since the balance shifted; even here in Ignae's realm."
"Ignae?" Jehezekel looked up, "Is that the Fire Elemental?"
"Yes, I met him a number of years ago when he brought a special order from the Elemental Conference."
"Special order?"
"It was a field worker's blade, a machete, and they wanted it to be imbued with the power of the four elements. Those ones," He motioned toward the rack, "are imbued with the power of earth. They have set abilities, but the Elemental Machete responds to the strengths of the wielder."
Jehezekel hefted one of the swords. Then he swung it at a practise dummy. *crash* The sword shattered before contact. "Oops"
"Go ahead, try them all." *shatter* *crash*... *crack-tinkle*... etc.
Soon, all the swords were lying in shards upon the ground. "You must be the balancer that Ignae spoke of! Unfortunately a few nights ago some Seldane came and stole your weapon. They said something about mages being better guardians than smiths."
Timon looked at him coldly, "And now you're safer than ever, now that Jehezekel has properly broken those swords."
"Yes, I never have been fond of danger, but you have a powerful non-mage with you now! Just think, if Jehezekel were to wield a stubborn secret door, it would crumble into dust! Nothing can stop you now!"
Jehezekel and Timon groaned. Eioneus continued, "I think that you will succeed! If you don't believe me, go ask Prusa, maybe she will tell you something worthwhile."
"Prusa." Timon responded bitterly, "Last time I talked to her, all she would say was, 'A frozen waste' and nothing more."
As they left Eioneus, he gave them a load of torches, "I won't need these for awhile, come tell me when the balance is restored."
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
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This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 14 January 2007 - 09:01 PM
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