Xavori
Revenge for Zaik
It had been a most distressing week. First off, I had been
ambushed and killed by a group of seven apprentice mages who were
taking advantage of the great strength the formerly useless magic
arrow had developed. Then, my house had been ransacked by people
using magical gates to gain entry. I had died again when the
Demon Lag had paralyzed me just as a mongbat proceeded to beat me
to a pulp (imagine death by wet spaghetti and you will understand
how being killed by a mongbat feels). Finally, I recieved word
that not only had my pupil, Zaik La Fennz, disobeyed my orders to
stay on Buccaneer's Den and train his fighting skills, but that
he had been killed my a fighter-mage named CHAOS. Apparently the
mage had goaded him into a fight by calling him a dishonorable
lout, then asking him to spar, and finally, during the sparring,
dropped his weapons and blasted the naive whelp with magic. Zaik
had never faced magic before, and hadn't known to run immediately
when his opponent dropped his weapons. Needless to say, I was not
at all pleased.
I started hunting for CHAOS and making it a point to inform
everyone that associating with him was suicide. I spent several
hours shortly after Zaik's death looking for his killer, but
apparently, the assassin had left the area. I decided that
revenge could wait adn that our paths would again cross. After
all, Sosaria is not that big...
Several days passed, and I was working on plans to gain
vengenance on all of Sosaria for my run of bad luck. I had most
of the details worked out as I traveled back and forth between
Vesper and Brittain slicing up the arrogant nobles who seemed to
feel so at home in the wilderness. Their deaths were even more
justified when I saw one so-called noble fighter attack an
innocent peasant. If I had known where to send the pieces, I
would have dissected his cold corpse as gifts to his family and
friends.
It was on one of my outtings near Brittain that I saw CHAOS. I
smiled and started following him, watching him do battle with
various creatures to gain an assessment of his fighting prowess.
He was a fighter of decent ability, and in a fair fight, he would
prolly be able to match if not beat me. However, no one has ever
dared accuse me of fighting fair.
After a while of watching him, I decided to gain vengenance
for my pupil. I approached him and smiled.
"Hail, CHAOS."
"Well met," he replied.
"My name is Xavori and I'm sure you remember my pupil.
The one you murdered."
"Your pupil attacked me. It was self-defense," he
answered.
I attacked just before he finished his sentence, and it
quickly became apparent that my assessment of his skills was
correct. We were a dead-even match in a fight. I quickly dropped
my weapons and prepared to paralyze him so I could make the fight
a little less even.
As soon as my weapons left my hands, he turned and fled. He
quickly ducked behind the back of a house where I could not
target him. I smiled at his intelligence in recognizing the
danger and how to best deal with it. I prepared a recall rune
expecting him to counter with magic, but the counter never came.
He simple started taunting me from behind the house.
Obviously, although his fighting ability was decent, he had
little faith is his magic. I started to grab a purple potion to
toss behind the house and remove him, but paused. I smiled and
cast a poison field instead.
"Care to train thy resistance?" I called out.
The fool stepped straight into the field which was far enough
behind the house that I still could not target him, but not so
far that it had hit him immediately. I heard him gag as the
poison seeped into his body. I also noticed his strength start to
slowly drop. Not so much that it would kill him, but enough that
he wouldn't be able to run very far...
He moved around to the other side of the house, still hiding
behind it for safety. I followed him and turned to one of my
better rogue talents, my silver tongue.
"Thou art a most impressive sort. Thy intelligence was
demonstrated in the trap you set for my pupil, and again thou
showest it well."
"You pupil attacked me for asking about his title. I
merely defended myself," he replied.
"Nay. Thou should give thyself more credit. Art thou a
rogue?" I asked.
"Nope, I'm a miner," he replied.
"I see, I am in need of new pupils, and even a miner of
your cunning would have a place with me."
"Thanks, but I'm trying to start my own guild. We could
be friends, though."
"Aye, we could," I answered. "If thou doth
comes out I will not immediately attack you."
"I'm going to trust you," he said and stepped out
from behind the house.
I smiled at him. He would have made a great student. I could
have taught him much, especially not to trust someone who has
demonstrated a strong desire to kill you. We talked for a few
moments more, long enough that I could keep my word about not
attacking him immediately, and then I attacked him.
Again, he ran for the cover of the house, but this time I
followed. Because of the poison in his system, he was not faring
as well in our fight. In fact, he quickly closed in on death and
he took off running again.
"Wait!" he cried out, "I give up. I won't
run."
Having already seen his cunning in action, I didn't even
pause. Either did he. He took of running again.
The chase went on for several minutes with him constantly
being forced to pause for a few moments from exhaustion at which
time, I would bring him ever closer to death. Finally, realizing
the complete futility of running, he turned to face me. Within
moments he was dead.
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