APPENDIX B : Invictus' Scrolls

A Story of a Wayward LassA Story of a Wayward Lass

The Soulmaster and the AgoknightThe SoulMaster and the Agoknight

Five New FablesFive New Fables

A Children's StoryA Children's Story

*

A Story of a Wayward Lass

"Once I had a sister fair, light of spirt, danced on air. Simple were her wants, and so, people loved her even so."

"Then one day a tinker came, rolling along with his dodging blame, for a tinker finds they cannot miss, getting into trouble over a kiss"

"So my sister, he did see, skrits raised up above her knees, (she was wading at the time, in the lake, it felt sublime)"

"'Ahh', he said. 'Ill kiss this lass, for she has a lovely ....'. And so he crept up to the creek, and quickly kissed her on the cheek"

"'Eeek!', she cried. 'Who are you?' And at him she did hurl a shoe. And scampered off he quickly did, and in a barnyard he was hid."

"Now I was working in the field, when heard I of the kiss she'd yield'd, to this tinker, of such shame, so my blade and I sought some game"

"Off I went to skin his hide, for my sisters wounded pride. Yet when I found him, I was shocked, for what he did my world did rock."

"There he was, within a stable, and there a cow, seemed most willing and able, and on that cow he did plant, a kiss that no one else could grant!"

"'Here now,' said I, 'What do you mean? Kissing a cow, it does seem, that fickle are you for did you not kiss, my sisters cheek.' 'No, your amiss.'

'A swan I thought your sister see, than now this cow has my fancy. I am in truth a little daft' And at this I could not help but laugh.'

'And so my blade I did sheathe, and told the tinker he should leave. And thus when he finds a wayward lass, he looks no longer at their....'

Invictus finishes and puts away his lute.

Invictus

*

The Soulmaster and the Agoknight

Gather round and hear now a Stanze from the Song of Life...in it you may hear your own morals, I but tell a story.....

Not too long ago, there was a Soulmaster, Dal Hago by name.. A kind and caring man, he wandered the dream offering his assistance whereever it was required. Now Dal was perhaps at the best of time, too kind, and would often go out of his way where others would turn aside.

Thus, as he travelled through the Ossuary one day, he did stumble across a wounded Agoknight, a female of the breed. Dal prepared to flee, knowing that Ago's seldom have any love for the lone Dreamer (or in packs for that matter) But the Agoknight did not attack, it merely sat and waited, sure this Dreamer had come to destroy it.

Dal paused a moment and considered the situation. he knew what his friends would do, for here was an easy target.

Yet he did not have it in him to collapse that which did not attack him. And once more his compassion got the better of him.

Taking the Agoknight by the claw, he dragged all teh way to Trinity Rise. There he knelt down by the waters edge at one of the bridges, invoked restore upon the water, and bade the Agoknight drink.

The agoknight hesitate, for while the intentions were clear, there was little reason to trust this Dreamer. But it did drink, and sure enough, recovered almost immediately. It started to pursue its instincts, and even clawed Dal once. Dal held his own blow, and the Agoknight, turned, and left, returnign to the Ossuary.

A fitting story? Yes, but it doesnt end there.

Another day or two passed, and Dal foudn himself out walking about, curiously enough through the Ossuary once more. There he discovered that little bothered him, and so he journeyed about with little fear.

Of course, as many know, not all would see Dreamers freely walk that place. Kruugaar for one, had no love for dreamers, and when the Dark Mare spied Dal wandering and gathering gen'd items, it decided that once more it would end a threat to its kind.

The Dark mare made to attack, but just then the Agoknoght Dal had befreinded, flitted by, warning Dal who managed to flee. Now The Dark Mare was greatly put out with this agoknight And decided to teach it a lesson.

"Since you so care for this Dreamer," it said in the tongue of its kind. "Perhaps you should join it." And with that, the Dark Mare did reach out and transform the Agoknight into a Dreamer, A Dreamseer to be exact. Which of course it then promptly collapsed.

The sphere of the new Dreamseer fled the ossuary, and encountered Dal, who restored it to form. Their eye locked, and the Dreamseer knelt be the waters edge and offered the Soulmaster a drink of water. And so even to this day those waters offer calm peace, friendship and tranquility to all who share them with another.

Invictus

*

Five New Fables

The Dreamer and the Newly Awakened

Once a Newly Awakened was visiting the Cenotaph of Dread. By he Temple of Pain he noticed a Dreamer dropping objects. "What are you doing?", asked the Newly Awakened. "I am making room for the wonderful items I hope to gain from the Item Generator inside the Temple." The Newly Awakened rushed into the Temple hoping to grab items before the Dreamer could. The Shamblix there quickly collapsed him. Coming out as a soulsphere, he asked the Dreamer, "Why didnt you warn me about the Shamblix?" The Dreamer responded, "Why didnt you tell me you were selfish?"

Moral: All that glitters my be gold, but sometimes its not worth the price you must pay.

Fourth Sphered and Newly Ascended.

A Newly Ascended was walking along the Trinity pathways when he heard a loud noise ahead. Rushing to see what was happening, he found a Dreamer of the Fourth Sphere in a heated battle with Kruugaar. The Dark Mare was close to disolution and it turned to flee. Thinking to get a quick experience buffer, the Newly Ascended rushed ahead of the Fourh Sphere to get the collapse. When he stepped through the portal, he found himself face to face with Toleth, who quickly collapsed him. The fourth sphere stepped through and vanquished both Dark Mares. "Can you restore me?" "No, for now that youve lost your sphere due to your greed, perhaps restoring yourself will teach you to look before you leap."

Moral: Fools rush in where Teachers Fear to tread, or more appropriately, look to others for examples, dont become one.

Yog-Ka and the Jury

A Jury thought that Yog-Ka had wronged them, and they called upon a Judge and an Executioner to decide. Without asking Yog-Ka any questions they quickly collapsed him and destroyed him and shared his treasures amoung themselves.

Moral: It is often True that sometimes Honesty, Right and Wrong have nothing to do with Justice, a wise Dreamer learns to seek solutions himself before asking others to judge him.

Kruugaar and the Dreamer

Kruugaar had gotten himself into a jam. Due to his own folly in trying to collapse a Dreamer and chasing him without looking where he was going he became stuck in the Dream. A Dreamer came along and spotting the Dark Mare's plight, quickly decided upon collapsing him. An AoE happened by and using Push, set the Dark Mare free. The Dark Mare rewarded the first dreamer with a unique chakram for not attacking him while stuck.

Moral: If you wait, and watch and listen before speaking, acting or deciding, often you will gain more than if you go for the quick easy score.

A Fatal Friendship

In the Fable above, Kruugaar wanted to reward the AoE with anything it was in the Dark Mares power to grant. The AoE thought on this and decided, "I wish to have all the abilities of a Dark Mare, that I might deter others from collapsing more easily." Kruugaar granted the request, and the AoE became like a Dark Mare, down to his looks. For a while he was able to do as he wished, but soon others just took him for another Dark Mare and collapsed him whenever they could as well.

Moral: Sometimes the thing you want the most is not the best thing for you.

*

A Children's Story

"And Lo, gather round all ye present and hearken to my tale! For this is a Story! Part of the Song of Life, and in its telling, it lives and sings once more..."

Invictus walks to the side of the pool.. Invictus dips his hand in and lets the water run through his fingers...

Madame D rests at the side of the pool and conjures up coffee.

Xun Dal J'han listens to a fellow Bard You Say: And as this water flows through my fingers and reenters the pool changed so slightly, so may this story flow through your souls and have some slight effect...

Invictus begins...

"Once there was a Man named Brandon... A fatesender by focus, he had grown in power and some little fame... But this was the time of Chaos, when the Dreamstrike Masters did war and the City was changed by the forces they wrought.

"Now Brandon did love Alea, a Soulmaster, whose soul sang to him with beauty pure... They were together, in the library, ahhh, it was a grand place then.... They walked hand in hand about, content in one anothers presence.... And then did the Dreamstrike Master war intrude... The war came to the library... They were caught in the middle....

"She leapt in from of a strike meant for him. When he woke, he knew, knew she was no more. And he considered following her, but how would that honor her memory?

"And thus he carried on...but he discovered something else strange as well. He could no longer evoke an art. Something in him, some part of him, had been cut off, sealed up and closed off. The flame still formed in his hands, but no effect resulted from the evokation. Brandon did not know what to do.

"Now many of you might have noticed how few children there are in the dream these days? It was not always so. Once there were many more, but these were the Wars, and the Chaos came too, its tendrils seeking easy prey, and who more easy to take than an innocent child.

"Now our hero, for mussn't all stories have a hero? He had become a wanderer of sorts. He went about entertaining small children with the colors of his arts, for they were impressed by simple things.

And one day he was entertaining a girl named Sari, and he was evoking stagger, and he pretended to evoke it upon himself. And suddenly, he did stagger, and he was amazed! He tried blind on the girl to hide from her, and it worked too!

"At last, he thought, I am once more a man! He finished with the child, and went his way, to face an emphant to test his flame. It failed him, he was stunned. Later after being restored..."

Invictus laughs ruefully.

"He was approached by the parents of Sari. They told her she had been taken by the Chaos, they were distraught, but they were happy,because his performance was the last thing she had talked about, for he had made Sari laugh and laugh. Brandon was devistated.

"He continues to entertain children. And soon enough, a small boy, Krin, was watching him perform. And he scared the childs nanny into the Lake of tears. The boy laughed no end, and Brandon was once more surprised. Surely enough, his arts once more worked while he was in the presence of Krin...

And later, they failed when he tried them on his own. He learned later that Krin was taken by the Chaos too... He feared what this seemed to point to. He thought of stopping, of withdrawing from all...

"But, he was known for his way with children, and he was invited to a birthday party. There were 5 there, Three little girls and two boys, out of 20 children, whom his arts worked for. He cried through the performance... He finished it, and the news reached him the next day...

"Five children, all taken by the Chaos.

Who could resist Despair?

"Who could bear this curse?

"He went to the edge of the dream... He entended to step off into the mists, to end his existance... He began his walk, A step... Another... And then he heard a voice.

"'Brandon'

"He knew her voice as if it had only been yesterday. He refused to hear it... Another step..

"'Brandon, don't'

"He turned, and there shimmering slightly, was Alea...just as he remembered her, so beautiful, so full of good.

"'I cannot face it Alea, I cannot have them laugh and love me, only to know the ones who see my arts true will be taken the next day'

"He turned and took another step, so close now to his own destruction.

"'Please dont', he heard another voice say.

"He looked behind him, and there, beside Alea, was the little girl Sari.

"'Please, your arts, your stories, your laughter was what saved us' And Sari pointed around her, and the other childeren appeared as well.

"'Brandon', said Alea, 'Come back to us, I will never leave you, and we will have these children for as long as we will be together, for I am always with you, as are they.'

"He hesitated, and then slowly, stepped back from the brink. The children ran to them, and he caught them and tears streamed down his face. And their laughter was wonderful to hear."

Invictus finishes his story and pauses a moment quietly.

"And so goes the Song of Life." Invictus bows.

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