Bloodline

R

Roo Stercogburn

Guest
Belorfyn sat down behind a large desk and gestured towards a chair on the other side for Roo to sit at. Along a wall were bookcases overflowing with tomes of varying sizes. A single window high up on one side provided the only light in the room.

"You might not be surprised to hear I've had my doubts about the death order on Clan Thodin for some time. I have no proof or anything other than vague doubts. Between you and me, I wondered if I'd dreamed the doubts and woke up with them nagging me." said Belorfyn as he settled back in the chair.
"I myself do not know what the reason is, or who is behind this." said Roo, "most of my life I've simply been evading them, only recently have I been able to start investigating. I don't know if my persuers are now aware I've become actively persuing them in return."
"It would have to be someone with access to the council." said Belorfyn, "That means it is someone with power and influence, even if out of public sight."
"And with large resources at their disposal." said Roo, "I've had everything from lone assassins to full blown war parties chasing me down the years."
"But you have no idea why they want you dead?"
Roo hesitated, "Well, I didn't used to. I've got a piece of the puzzle now."
Roo wasn't sure if he should share his knowledge of the medallion with Belorfyn, but it felt the right thing to do. He found himself trusting the little kobold, despite years of having survived by not trusting anyone.
Belorfyn raised his eyebrows and waited for Roo to speak.
"My persuers are not after me, they are after something they believed I had access to. This item here, in fact."
Roo pulled out the medallion and put it on the desk in front of Belorfyn. Belorfyn regarded it and stroked his chin, but made no effort to pick it up.
"Its related to dragons, that much is certain" he said, "but do you know in what way?".
"No," answered Roo, "I only have the item. One of my tasks here in Jordheim is to try and identify this piece."

Belorfyn stood up and walked to the bookcases and picked a book out. He skimmed its pages, from time to time looking over at the medallion.
"Hmm nothing here."
He continued picking out books here and there from the shelves, occasionally returning to the desk and comparing drawings with the medallion. Occasionally he would make an excited sound just to make a disappointed grunt a few seconds later.
Roo sat back patiently and let Belorfyn do his research.
This went on for several hours. Eventually Belorfyn closed a book and shook his head, "I have no information here. Can't find a single thing on the subject."
Roo was disappointed, but not entirely surprised, "Thank you for your efforts though."
Belorfyn looked at Roo shrewdly as if weighing something up.
"There is somewhere else we can look." he said.
Roo caught the tone in his voice. Instantly he knew that Belorfyn had other sources of information that were probably not widely known. He said nothing and waited for Belorfyn to continue.
"Each temple has its own libraries, some larger than others, some specialised in their own areas. Good luck finding a tome on herbology in Thor's temple."
Roo smiled.
"But," continued Belorfyn, "we have something more here in our own temple. The stor gothi of each of the temples knows of it, but we don't normally let outsiders find out about it. Come with me."

Belorfyn stood up and crossed to a bookcase. He reached behind a book and pulled a lever. The bookcase swung out and behind was revealed a passageway. He had Roo's full attention. It was unlikely that any temple didn't have some secrets but Roo was surprised to be let in on any of them. Roo stood and followed Belorfyn into the passageway. The bookcase swung shut behind them.

Belorfyn led Roo down a spiral stone staircase and continued to explain."In ages gone by, we in Midgard have defeated various enemies. Some ordinary mortals like ourselves, some demons and monsters of incredible power. Sometimes we have been able to completely destroy them, sometimes the best we can do is to imprison them. At times powerful and terrible artifacts are carried by these. What to do with them? If we cannot completely destroy them how do we imprison them?"

This derailed Roo's thinking completely. He had been expecting some insight into how the temples played their part in the manouevers within and around the council.

"Beneath this temple is a vast underground series of tunnels and caves. Some natural, some we made ourselves. We keep the evils we cannot destroy imprisoned there and catalogued. The servants of Hel, the undead themselves are the perfect custodians of this place. They never sleep and are ever vigilant. To keep track of what is down there, we have an index room, a place where there is a huge repository of knowledge on ancient evils and artifacts. We refer to all this as the Black Library. The best of the gothis that serve here may become trusted enough to become servitors in the Black Library, to keep watch for any... anomolies."
"So you keep artifacts down here?" asked Roo.
"Not just artifacts, we have demons imprisoned and other monsters too. It is a terrible burden and occupies a lot of our attention. The other temples provide traps and occasional resources as we require to ensure the dungeon stays closed."
"Are we going down there?" asked Roo.
"No," said Belorfyn, "we only need the index room. If there is any record of your mysterious pendant, it will be there. Trust me, you don't want to enter the dungeons of the Library unless you have to. Its only the fact we have been entrusted as guardians that we have such an extensive index of information."
Roo grunted acknowledgement and kept following.

At the bottom of the stairwell was a short passage with an iron door at the end of it. Roo felt something cold brushing against him but couldn't see anything. He spun around, looking for what caused it.
Belorfyn chuckled, "If you have a certain type of sight, you would see this passage is full of guardians. You are with me, you have nothing to worry about but I would not reccommend wandering off yourself."
Roo squinted and tried to see if he could pick out any of the guardians but all that happened was his eyes watered.

Belorfyn opened the iron door and led them into a large circular room. There was an arched doorway at the opposite end but aside from that, every wall was covered in bookshelves, stacked full. In the centre of the room was a dais with a lecturn on it. A massive leatherbound book lay on it.
"The Index." said Belorfyn, pointing at the dais.

Beyond the archway, Roo could see another similar room, also filled with books on shelves. He kept sensing movement out of the corner of his eye, but any time he turned to look, it was gone. More guardians he assumed. It was very unnerving but Belorfyn seemed untroubled by it.

Belorfyn stepped up to the dais and began leafing through the Index. Roo wandered up to the bookcases and began inspecting the books. Just as he reached his hand out to have a look at one Belorfyn spoke, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. The guardians are very protective."
Roo immediately withdrew his hand and stepped back a little. Belorfyn smiled and went back to browsing the Index.

Roo moved nearer the archway and had a look beyond. There were several rooms, he could see that now. All similar to this one. He decided it would probably not be a good idea to stray too far from Belorfyn.
Time passed as Belorfyn poured over the Index. Eventually Belorfyn stabbed a page with his finger then went scuttling over to one of the bookshelves. Retrieving a book he sped through the pages until he arrived at the place the Index had directed him. His hopeful look turned to disappointment. Putting the book back on the shelf he returned to the Index.

This went on for several hours and Roo was, quite frankly, bored. He couldn't assist in case of retribution from the unseen guardians and he couldn't explore, so he paced the room, occasionally getting in the way when Belorfyn would suddenly scuttle from the Index to check a reference.

Roo's mind was idling when he realised Belorfyn had taken a book from the wall and had been intently reading it for some minutes. Roo's heart leapt.
"You found something?"
Belorfyn rubbed his chin, "I think so. One moment."
Belorfyn grunted as he read through the book as if acknowledging things he was reading there. Roo wanted to shake him and get him to tell him what he'd found but instead he bottled his excitement and waited.

"Hmm," said Belorfyn, "we only have a little on it here. I'd thought to find more than this."
"What have you found?"
Belorfyn snapped the book shut and put it back on the shelf, "We are finished here, lets go back up."
Roo followed him as he exited the room, retracing their path back to Belorfyn's office."
"We know now what the item is called. Its a Dragonwalker pendant. Rare, ancient and powerful. Details on the power don't seem to exist. The only other information I could find was that there was only one type of being able to fully describe what it does."
"What type of being?" asked Roo.
"Why, a dragon of course." answered Belorfyn.
 
R

Roo Stercogburn

Guest
When they returned to Belorfyn's office, Roo sat back down and pondered the medallion. He hadn't expected to get any information on it here, he had hoped to get some inside help with the council. Nico was useful for gathering information, but he hoped to get someone inside the council itself.

Walking up to a dragon, saying "How do" and hoping not to be dead a moment later seemed to be a bit unrealistic so for the moment his pursuit of the medallion's background might have to be put on hold.

He decided it was time to tackle Belorfyn about allying.

"I'm surprised you haven't discussed an alliance since we've been together all this time." said Belorfyn. Roo raised an eyebrow, it was very hard to stay one step ahead of this one.

Belorfyn rang a small bell on his desk and moments later the door to the office opened and a gothi entered, bowed and waited. Belorfyn smiled at the gothi and said, "We hunger and thirst."
The gothi bowed and left the room without speaking, but didn't miss the chance to frown at Roo.

Roo said, "I wasn't sure how best to bring the subject up. The Kin are not an official guild or clan. We are not listed with the Registrar's office here in Jordheim. A formal alliance while I'm being hunted will be very difficult."
This was only part of the reason for Roo's reluctance to bring the subject up. His speech about allying the smaller guilds had not come from him, but from somewhere else. It troubled him that at a crucial moment, he was not in command of himself. The help in tracking down the medallion's background had been too good to pass up, which had also put him off mentioning the issue.

Belorfyn put his hands together in a steeple and thought for a moment.
"You don't need to formally ally with guilds or clans to actually be of use to each other, though obviously it can be useful."
"So how then?"
"An association would suffice. Most of the small guilds and clans are not allied. They are not considered enough of a benefit to the larger ones and they also choose to bicker amongst themselves though they are very cautious for it not to come to blows as they don't have the resources to sustain vendettas. This also helps as it means they haven't managed to create any lasting grudges. I can put out some feelers and see how disposed some would be to working more closely together, though I don't think I'll be able to mention your name. At least, not initially anyway. Some would likely join together just for the mischief of thumbing their noses at the more powerful clans."
"Any likely candidates to start with?"
"Bragi's Scorpions, possibly Norsefejd. Vanir of Vanaheim, maybe the Huscarls. I hesitate to mention Valour, they just don't seem to like anyone."
"Who are they and why's that?" asked Roo.
"Don't know too much about them. They turn up at council at times. Seem to be able to handle themselves in a fight, but their guildmaster seems, well... grumpy."
"Grumpy?"
"Yes, grumpy."
"He would be a dwarf then?"
"Yes," chuckled Belorfyn, "but its as if someone took the grumpiest female dwarf and grumpiest male dwarf they could find and decided to see if they could breed the sourest, bad tempered offspring possible. Hel knows how he manages a guild."
"Does this little stormcloud have a name?"
"He's called Borgdur."
"Never heard of him. Where's he from?"
"Haggerfall I believe. He runs a smithy here in Jordheim backed by his guild. There's another Thane called Zaksoth who might be more approachable but he spends all his time out in the frontier. Good if you can bring in Valour, but I wouldn't bet on it."
"What about the other guilds you mentioned?"
"Bragi's are fairly easy going. They generally like to gamble and will bet on anything. Oh, and they sing a lot. Occasionally at Council meetings they just start doing it to annoy everyone else."
"Who's their clan leader?"
"Not sure. It might be Fredensgade or Koxine. Seems to be whoever is most sober at the time."
"Ah. True Midgardians then: drunk or fighting. And Norsefejd?"
"They refuse to sit at council. Not being as mighty as some, they aren't missed. Worth bringing into the fold, I think they are larger than they let on."

Roo tried to digest all this. Several clans already that might be worth approaching. But what was the best approach? It would be difficult for him to make any overtures given his status. He caught a small smile appearing on Belorfyn's face.
"Yes, Roo, I can approach them all quietly and sound them out."

Roo really wished Belorfyn would stop doing that.

The gothi returned with bread, cold meat and a couple of ales. Roo waited while he placed the dishes, bowed, and left.
Belorfyn indicated Roo should help himself and started filling his own plate. Roo found that despite having been some time since he ate, he wasn't very hungry. He took a couple of small slices and some bread. He didn't touch the ale.

"It would be good if you can approach the clans. You will be known to them and your position in the temple gives you some status and credability."
Belorfyn chewed thoughtfully, "There's one I can't approach I'm afraid. You'll have to tackle Valour yourself or find another way, if you want them."
"Why's that?" asked Roo.
"Borgdur doesn't like Spirit Masters."
"Why does that matter? I thought you said he doesn't like anyone?"
"He particularly doesn't like Spirit Masters."
"Why?" asked Roo.
Belorfyn just shrugged but his eyes twinkled, hinting he knew more than he was letting on. Roo mulled this for a few seconds, "I suppose I could get someone else to approach him."
"No, he would take it as an insult if you sent an underling."
"Well, how in Hel's name am I to approach him then?" asked Roo
"Technically you're not a Spirit Master. You never received Hel's blessing from the temple."
"Thats a pretty feeble technicality Belorfyn."
Belorfyn shrugged and picked up his ale, "I'm sure you'll think of something."
 
R

Roo Stercogburn

Guest
Trigali walked the streets of Jordheim just as any casual shopper would, browsing at market stalls, occasionally peering into a window or two to look at goods. He made his way indirectly to the temple areas. Occasionally he accidently bumped into a genuine shopper and helped himself to their purse. Life was good. Free fruit from a market stall helped to add to his good humour.

He deliberately stayed away from the temple of Hel. He'd seen several blades closely following Roo and decided it would be just as easy to watch them as to directly follow his quarry. He was fairly certain that when the blades moved, it would indicate Roo was on the move also. He wandered the market area just as far as the start of the temple district and made sure that the blades he watched were still there. He would have been happier to be able to watch Roo directly, but he settled for watching Roo's apparent bodyguard. Some were pretty good, he'd not been able to spot them until some obviously less experienced ones gave them away. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see that Roo had such a large number of blades at his service, Ayam would be interested to hear of this. There were quite a few surprises the last couple of days. He'd dearly have loved to get into that bakery where Roo and his friends had seemed to gather, probably for a meeting, but again, he settled for the safer approach. He watched the effects of the movements and deduced what happened between times. That had been the first time there had been any indication Roo was back in Jordheim. Now Trigali had orders to stick on Roo at all times and find out what he was up to. There had been no sign of him since he entered the temple of Hel and the doors closed behind him. Trigali had ached all afternoon to find out what would make a temple close its doors prematurely.

Even if Roo's friends saw him, he would look like just another cutpurse, wandering around the markets. The only problem was it was getting late in the day now and the market stalls were closing down for the night. Cutpurses didn't do so well outside of crowds so tended to leave when the shoppers did. A few street sellers were already folding down the fronts of their stalls to show they were closed. Carts were being loaded and taken home for the night. Being the temple district, there wasn't even an inn close by where he could find a table by a window and keep look out. The rooftops were off limits with all the activity he'd spotted up there, and he'd be surprised if there wasn't a few blades at ground level also. Thats how he would have done it after all. Tricky. He chewed on the problem and his apple equally, all the while getting closer to the temple district without any clear idea of how to proceed.

Lanterns along the street were being lit and flickering lights were appearing in houses as candles or fires were lit. He entered the temple district and walked slowly along, as if lost in his own thoughts, meanwhile his eyes searched everywhere for a place he could safely observe the temple area around Hel's temple. Nothing that looked safe. He was about to give up when he saw the doors to the temple opening and out stepped his quarry. He was sure that there would be a flurry of activity on the rooftops and anyone in the street would be noted and checked for changes in any movement pattern. He decided the best thing to do was keep walking towards the temple. Hmm, it was Roo alright. His current direction would take him very close to the Spirit Master.

Trigali's fingers slowly flexed as they itched to reach for his blades. He could easily kill the unprepared Spirit Master in one or two slashes. Roo was getting closer now. Trigali's heart lept, there was no Spirit walking beside Roo. He'd have to decide soon. Looked clear, he knew there would be blades near, but if they weren't quick off the mark he'd be able to slide one of his poisoned pretties into Roo and be on his way fast.

Trigali made up his mind and picked up his pace, dropping the unfinished apple. He altered his course only slightly to take him close to Roo, while he felt inside the folds of his cloak for one of the many daggers he kept there. By the feel of the hilt alone he could tell which blade was used for what purpose. There it was, the narrow blade with the tip coated in nerve venom harvested from a live Forest Spider in Vanern. Trigali was proud of this blade. Most shadowblades, if they were even lucky enough to come across this venom, only ever got it from a dead spider. Trigali, thanks to his guild, Nyd, had found a way to get live spider venom, which was much more potent. One cut assured death in about ten seconds but the venom had to be kept on a specially prepared blade, or it became just another ordinary poison.

Ten feet from Roo, Trigali slid the blade into his right hand. A diseased blade that would hinder any attempts at healing he slid into his left hand as a backup, in case there was a problem. He kept his head slightly lowered, as if not watching.
Eight feet...
Six feet...
Four feet...

Trigali went flying sideways as a drunken norseman blundered into him. He nearly dropped his knives but managed to keep them with him, and blades away from him as he went sprawling to the ground.
"Ssorrrry my frrriend," slurred the norseman as he staggered in front of Trigali, "Lemme help you up there lil fella."
Trigali cursed and looked around. The moment was lost, Roo was now too far to get him without obviously running after him. He slapped away the swaying hand held out to him and climbed to his feet. Pulling his cloak back around himself he set off in the opposite direction to Roo. The commotion would have been noticed and he'd be observed now. Time to fade for a while. He noted the direction Roo was heading and decided to double back around the top end of the temple district.
Angry at the missed opportunity, he stomped off, making a show of being visibly annoyed at the drunkard to make sure his reaction was as close to norm as possible though he didn't have to act very hard. That was a golden opportunity to slit Roo's throat and claim the bounty.

Hound watched the street from above. No way of knowing if that little kobold was an assassin, but Isharo's perfect drunken norseman routine had made doubly sure. He signalled the nearest blade to move out and they silently tracked Roo's path through the city, a few steps ahead and a few steps behind. A silent army, born of shadows.
 
R

Roo Stercogburn

Guest
With Barrysworld closing in a couple of weeks and now that Freddyshouse have upped their character count limit per post, I've transferred Bloodline over there.

I won't be posting any more of my babbling story on here, but will instead keep it going on Freddys as time permits :)

I hope others will transfer their stuff over too as, though I haven't posted much on other people's threads, I like a lot of the stuff that has gone on here more than any other of the forums on BW.
 
O

old.Ayam Ganbatte

Guest
Ayam slips in after a long night of karaoke in the land of the rising sun and shuffles through the scroll in front of him, bloodshot tired eyes hypnotised by the tension in the tale, his raised wrinkled brow a telltale sign that his interest is piqued.

"By Thor's stained beard and Bragi's cracked karaoke voice, that Roo has much to say."

Grinning through cracked lips, running his grimy hand through his matted norseman mullet, Ayam chuckles deeply, turning over to the next page, squinting intently.

"Keep the installments flowing like the young pups' blood in Njessi's river, eh ya fellow alcoholic."

Ayam wanders over to Freddyshouse, throwing throat lozenges high into the air, playfully trying to catch them in his mouth while passers-by gawp at Ayam's unusually good mood.
 

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