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Mave Gerhart · Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:27 am Post subject: When the dam breaks...

Mave sat infront of the Vesper bank, his pouch full of gold. But this was not taxes he had collected. Instead, as people passed, he made a production of hassling them for taxes when in actuality he was giving them gold from his own personal holdings.

"Use this to help pay the taxes and to support your family" he would say to them. "And speak of this to noone"

With confused but grateful looks, the townspeople would usually just hurry along, going about whatever tasks were before them that day.

It was one of these people that Mave approached in much the same way. His name was Ollo the barkeep, and after giving much the same response the rest had, he went along his way. A few minutes later, he returned. This time with a friend, a stumbling drunk friend whom he called Bob.

"Perhaps I should escort you and your friend home" Mave said after they talked for a while. "There could be brigands who would find you easy prey in the condition your friend is in"

"No, no", Ollo said. "We will be fine"

"Nonsense", Mave insisted. "You can never be too careful."

With a wary glance towards Bob, Ollo consented.

Strange..., Mave thought. Why would he not want protection going through the woods to his home...

He did not have long to dwell on these thoughts though because as he looked up he saw Bob, fleeing headlong into the woods and before Mave could shout a word, he had disappeared into the trees.

Looking down from his mount to Ollo, Mave exclaimed, "What in the world was that?!"

"I.. I don't... I don't know sir", Ollo said, looking ready to run himself.

"We should go find him", Mave said, now with a wary stare to the woods around him, thinking there is no way a drunken man could disappear from him that way. "As drunk as he was, he could fall and break a leg"

"Oh, I meant to tell you", Ollo said, still glancing around quickly. "When we parted company earlier, I noticed smoke in the air from the direction of Cove."

"What?!" Mave exclaimed as he turned Belegohtar towards Cove. "Very well, you find him, I will go see what is happening there."

When he got to Dark Cove, he was greated by a multitude of burning houses. Though none of the Order's fortications and buildings were severly damaged because of the stone construction, many villagers huts and small homes were up in flames. Grabbing the first soldier he saw, he started shouting orders.

"Grab buckets, basins, whatever you can find. Form a chain from the water's edge and get this blaze under control. Make sure it does not spread to other houses."

With a nod, the soldier ran off, grabbing other soldiers and citizens alike, battling the fires. When Mave saw that it was under control, he turned and headed back to Vesper. After short time of searching, he found Ollo back at the bank.

********************************************************

"You have some questions to answer" Mave said as he came up behind him.

"Oh?" Ollo replied, spinning around quickly.

"Tell me Ollo," Mave said quietly. "Why did you wait hours to tell me about the smoke. Why did you wait until the moment that your friend fled into the woods and I was wanting to follow."

"I forgot" Ollo said, slight pleading in his voice. "I just thought you would want to know."

"Oh I would want to know," Mave replied. "I also want to know where this friend of yours is now. Did you find him?"

"Oh, yes, yes," Ollo said with a smile. "He is out in the woods, sleeping..." Ollo's smile vanished instantly as he recalled that only hours earlier, he had described the Warder of the North as someone who only slept in the woods.

"Well then lets go find him shall we?" Mave replied with a slight knowing smile. "Many things can happen to a man sleeping in the woods."

"No, no, I mean he is at the inn..." Ollo quickly interjected."Yes, yes, I dropped him off at the inn to sleep it off."

"Well then, we will go check on him there" Mave said with a nod towards the door. "Lead the way"

After many more attempts by Ollo to talk Mave away from going into the room at the inn, they finally went through the door and discovered the empty room, the still made bed.

"No one has slept in that bed today Ollo" Mave said as he moved to block the door out. "Maybe you should start telling me the truth."

Ollo began looking around the room feverishly, and then turned towards Mave with a slight smirk.

"What would you know about truth, Dark Order scum." Ollo said as he spat on the floor at Mave's feet. "You who pretend to be nice and helpful while serving in that vile Order."

Raising an eyebrow, Mave looked at him closer. "What are you talking about Ollo. You know that I have been trying to help these people as best I could."

"Helping? Helping?!" Ollo screeched. "Oh, you are helping, you are so busy helping that you don't even know when one of your own is missing!"

Mave frowned, taking a step closer. "What do you mean, who is missing?"

"The Lady Alessandra!!" Ollo cried. "They have her!! They have your precious lady!!"

With one motion, Mave's blade was out and the point was mere inches from the barkeep's eyes.

"What are you talking about... who has her..."

"We do!" Ollo proudly crooned. "The Northland Militia!! We oppose you and will stand up against you! Long live Vesper!!!"

Mave clenched his jaw, his voice taking on a more even tone. "Tell me who has her... names... where she is..."

Ollo looked at Mave closely and tried to swallow some spit from his suddenly dry mouth. The situation wasn't nearly so trivial anymore...

"I'll never tell you" he said quietly. "You might as well go ahead and kill me. What do you care anyway? What is she compared to your deep love for the Dark Order?" he finished with a smirk.

Mave slowly let the tip of his blade fall until it was below Ollo's chin and pressed it against his throat.

"Know this..." Mave began, in a voice so unchanging in tone and volume as to only be described as icy death. "For my love of the Order, I would never have harmed a single hair on the head of any citizen of Vesper..." he paused, applying more pressure to the blade as it drew deep red drops of blood from Ollo's throat. "But for my love of Alessandra, I would burn this city down with every person in it if it meant her safe return..."

Ollo's eyes widened as he watched Mave speak. This was not the same man who had been handing out coins at the bank earlier...

"Now Ollo, you will tell me where she is... and pray she isn't harmed" Mave said in the same icy tone.

Straining with a weak voice, Ollo replied "No, never. I must defend Vesper. I will never tell you, you might as well kill me now."

"All we wanted to do was help you, help the people here" Mave said quietly. "Who kept the heavy hand of the Order at bay, who gave help to those here who needed it, who never asked for naught in return but order and to obey the laws... THE LADY AND I!!!" Mave burst out the last few words.

"Now you have taken one of the only two who looked to help you" Mave continued, speaking again in the low even tone. "And have made an enemy of the other. You fools... all you have done is cause more bloodshed than would have ever been necessary. Did the Order burn down citizens houses... did the Order kidnap people... did the Order do these things... no... it was your Northland Militia that did these things... now tell me Ollo, who are the real evil ones. Now... tell me where she is so that any further conquences of your actions can be avoided."

Ollo shook his head as much as he could with the blade pressed against his throat. "No, never... never" he ended in a whisper. "Kill me now"

"Oh Ollo" Mave said slowly, a cold smile forming, moving around behind the man so that the tip of his blade pressed on the back of his neck. "I'm not going to kill you... I want you to live to see what you have caused with your foolishness. Now, walk out to the common room."

Puffing his chest out, Ollo shouted as they walked down the hall. "Long live Vesper!! All hail Vesper!!"

As they reached the common room, Mave directed Ollo to the side of the room where the female innkeeper was standing. Moving the tip of his blade from Ollo to the innkeeper, Mave looked towards Ollo.

"Tell me barkeep. Is this one part of your militia?"

"No, no" Ollo quickly replied with a pained look to the lady he obviously knew from his years in Vesper. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Well then, she will have no information that will be useful to me" Mave said coldly, never taking his eyes off of Ollo as he swung his blade in a quick arc, cleanly severing her head from her body.

"NO!" Ollo exclaimed, falling to the floor and holding the body of the woman. "You cruel bastard!!"

Sliding his blade away without bothering to wipe away the blood, Mave looked down at Ollo.

"This is what you have caused. You and your militia by putting your hands on the Lady Alessandra. Until you bring her to me unharmed, you will lose one citizen a day. If any harm has come to her, I will raze this city to the ground. I will kill every militia member and the families of every militia member."

As Mave turned around towards the door leaving the inn, Ollo looked up. "You wouldn't... you couldn't do that..."

Mave turned his head, regaining the cold smile "My poor fool... I have led empires and I have destroyed empires... keep the coins I gave you earlier as a reminder of what you have brought upon yourself. I was the greatest ally you could have hoped to have inside the Order. Now you have doomed yourself."

Turning around, Mave walked out the door, leaving Ollo on the floor, holding the headless body of the innkeeper. Mave then mounted and rode over to the Marsh Hall, one of the gathering places in Vesper and the establishment where Ollo worked.

*****************************************************

Going inside, Mave looked around and proclaimed in a loud voice. "I will return in one hour to burn this building down. Why you ask? Point your questions towards the Northland Militia. They have brought this upon you. Anyone still inside when I return will burn with the building."

With that Mave went back outside and spent the next hour searching the woods outside of Vesper for this Warden of the North, the only one that could be in charge of this militia. When he found nothing, he returned to the Marsh Hall and did as promised, setting fire to the building, now empty of patrons.

Mave spent the rest of the night searching the woods, coming across many individuals, including at one point a elf that was meeting with Ollo inside a camp. Quickly Mave rode up thinking he had found another to question, until a spell hit him from Ollo and the elf began firing his bow.

"RUN" Ollo shouted to the elf as he fired spells at Mave.

Quickly Mave cut down the elf, leaving him laying broken and bleeding as he turned his mount to chase down Ollo. The chase continued until Ollo darted into a tower very close to the Minoc border.

"Interesting place to run to Ollo" Mave mumbled to himself as he looked the structure over and memorized its location for later.

After numerous more encounters with others and gaining very little information, Mave returned to his keep.

"M'lord, you have been gone quite a long time" one of his servants said as he reached to take Mave's cloak. He stopped however when he noticed the steady drip of blood falling from the scabbard tip where Mave's blade was sheathed.

"Oh, no" the servant whispered as he looked back to Mave and noticed that the easy going cheer was gone from his face. "What happened m'lord?"

"They took her..." was all Mave could say. "They took her..." he said again as he walked to his chambers and shut the door.

Laying down the cloak, the servant went to get a rag to wipe up the blood from the floor. As he knelt down and began moving the cloth across the floor, he began to feel the slight sobs of weeping. He glanced towards the closed door to Mave's chamber and back to the blood.

"What have they done... what have they done..."
_________________
Honor is the sword I wield...

"If you have to explain why it makes RP sense, then odds are it doesn't" -Leshok (or his DM)

[01:48] Deathwisp: well I always rub the fuzzy part before I pull it off
[01:48] Mave: ...what?
[01:49] Deathwisp: you know, the fuzzy... nvm

Mave Gerhart · Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:29 am Post subject:

[This post tries to recount alot of events from memory that happened tonight. If anyone who was involved notices something about their character that was told incorrectly, please let me know. It is a long post, it is late at night and I am tired, but I had such a fun night of RP that I had to write it down.]
_________________
Honor is the sword I wield...

"If you have to explain why it makes RP sense, then odds are it doesn't" -Leshok (or his DM)

[01:48] Deathwisp: well I always rub the fuzzy part before I pull it off
[01:48] Mave: ...what?
[01:49] Deathwisp: you know, the fuzzy... nvm

Roger de Clare · Adventurer Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 42

Roger de Clare enjoyed his days (and nights!) with his beloved Xana. He never dreamed when he first met the gypsy he would find so much happiness with her. So rather than try to help save Magincia or any thing else, he tarried at home more and more.

Still he kept in touch with events abroad either by correspondence or making brief patrols or by dispatching a certain Free Lancer whose identity shall remain secret, but we'll call Mouse.

Mouse kept watch in Vesper and reported the Dark Order did not unduly abuse the citizens. They merely took control of their city away from them, meted out their own idea of justice, and imposed even more taxes and other restrictions on trade and traffic. All in all, they fared about as well as before the occupation.

The citizens disliked foreign rule in principle, however, and a muted atmosphere of fear blanketed the city. After all, the Dark Order's rulers and minions were known for their lack of compassion and disregard for life, least of all the lives of others.

Mouse reported two in particular of the Dark Order's occupying force differed from others of their country.

Mave Gerhart and Alessandra actually gave gold to citizens so they could pay the oppressive tax levied by Tarothin Armunn. They knew their masters would object for they handed out the gold while pretending to collect gold for taxes.

Further, they collected the flyers posted by the resistance and burned them. Although they sought the identities of the ones posting them, they did not report them to their superiors for fear of their retaliation on the general populace.

Roger wondered how Mouse knew this and the scout shrugged. "All the citizens know it."

Today Mouse reported things took a turn for the worse. The resistance kidnapped Alessandra and brought upon themselves the wrath of Mave Gerhart, their former benefactor. Mouse chortled, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

Mouse reported the Northland Militia kidnapped the lady. In fact, Mave had forced one of them to confess it. Once confessed, that man, named Ollo, proudly boasted of it.

Thus did the Northland Militia prompt retaliation by the Dark Order, Mave in particular, and for the first time Vesper citizens were killed and buildings were burned by the invaders.

Roger doubted the Dark Order would negotiate for Alessandra's return, especially since they had so little regard for life anyway. He did not doubt they would exact a frightful revenge. The Northland Militia had done better if they had not kidnapped the lady for it served no good purpose.

He wrote a message for the Warden of the North to express his feelings. Then he inspected his armor and weapons.

Mave Gerhart · Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:09 pm Post subject:

Mave woke late the next morning. Sleep had come only in small spurts and even then it was fitfull and filled with worry for Alessandra. He opened the door to his chamber and walked out, buckling on the last piece of armor.

"Is there any word of Alessandra?" he asked the servant that hurried over with some food. "Were there any messages left for me?"

"No m'lord... nothing" the servant replied in a quiet voice.

Mave nodded slightly and buckled on his sword.

"Very well..."

Leaving the food untouched, Mave walked out of his keep, mounting upon the great white bear. Looking up to the sky, he motioned to Belegohtar.

"Let me know the moment you lay eyes on her or a message is received" he said to the dragon.

With a great lift from his wings, Belegohtar leaped from the keep and began a slow ascent, circling Dark Cove.

Mave turned his mount towards Vesper and gave him lead. As his servant watched them disappear into the woods, he sadly shook his head and shut the door.

************************************************************

Mave rode through Vesper for an hour, asking the citizens if they had any word for him. The ones who could overcome their fear to speak had nothing to say. Finally Mave rode back to towards the village center, stopping at the door of the jeweler's shop. Thinking of Alessandra and her love of elegant accessories, he quickly lept down and went through the door.

"Jeweler, come here..." Mave said as he entered, his voice a steady, cold tone.

With a slow, pained step, she walked over to where Mave stood.

"Yes sir..." she whispered.

Mave looked around the room, making sure he had the attention of all the workers and patrons in the shop.

"Another day has begun without word of my Lady Alessandra... without her safe return to me..." and with a quick drawing of his blade, Mave plunged it into the womans chest, straight thought the heart, killing her instantly.

Letting her slide off of his blade into the floor, Mave let his eyes sweep across the room... his even cold voice cutting through the gasps and sobs from the people.

"Pray that she is returned to me..."

With that, he turned and walked out the door, leaping astride the bear and directed the bear back to his keep.
_________________
Honor is the sword I wield...

"If you have to explain why it makes RP sense, then odds are it doesn't" -Leshok (or his DM)

[01:48] Deathwisp: well I always rub the fuzzy part before I pull it off
[01:48] Mave: ...what?
[01:49] Deathwisp: you know, the fuzzy... nvm

Mave Gerhart · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:37 pm Post subject:

Mave rode into the town of Vesper once more. He had given them the full part of this day instead of coming in the morning and still there had been no word of Alessandra. He rode quickly, stepping from his mount infront of where the Marsh Hall had stood. Now there were workers all around, rebuilding the tavern.

Walking up to the first worker he saw, Mave moved infront of him. "Who is the owner of this place?" he asked evenly.

With an unsteady hand, the man pointed to an older man standing behind a makeshift podium, going over what looked like blueprints.

As he walked across the distance between them, the man noticed everyone's attention was not on their work and followed their eyes to Mave... as soon as his eyes were on him, Mave spoke to him in a cold, even voice, steadily advancing...

"You are the owner of an establishment that harbors those that would kidnap an innocent woman... whether you helped them or not, you kept their secret and are thus an accomplice... she has not been returned to me..."

As he spoke the last phrase, Mave closed the final step and in one motion drew his blade and on the upstroke, split the man open from his stomach to his throat.

As he sheathed his blade, he turned back to the workers.

"Another day and another one of your friends, someone you have probably known for a long time, is gone. All this is caused by this militia laying their hands on the Lady Alessandra and refusing to return her. If they would but bring back the lady that tried to assist each and every one of you, this justice that I am forced to exact upon you would stop. If I were you, I would do what I could to find and help the lady..."

With that, Mave called the great white bear over, lept on his back and turned him to head out of town.

************************************************************

As Mave rode back to Dark Cove, he noticed a shape quickly approaching him in the sky. Stopping in the next clearing, he waited as he saw Belegohtar speeding towards him. It was quite a sight to see the great dragon cutting through the sky with the tiny sparkling form of a pixie flitting behind him trying to keep up.

Belegohtar landed, motion with his head from Mave towards the pixie. Quickly Mave walked over and inspected her as she landed in the grass, carrying a note half as big as she was.

"What do we have here?" Mave wondered aloud as he took the note the pixie offered.

As he opened the paper, his eyes widened as he recognized the earring that fell into his hand. Quickly he read through it and then looked to the sky as if wishing for her to be delivered just at the note had been...

As he gazed up, tying the earring around his neck with a piece of leather binding, he thought over what the note had told him...

She was able to write a note, so she is not incapacitated... he thought. She must be being held by a drow... but I have not faced a drow in the ranks of the militia yet

Then something clicked... something that Ollo had told him sprang into his mind.. "She is now in hands that held her long before yours did"

A former friend... perhaps lover... and a drow... Mave clenched his fists at the name that came to mind... it all crashed into his head, Order of the Flame... Alessandra's family while he had been away... Drayden...

Quickly Mave pulled a small piece of parchment from under his cloak and after burning the end of a small stick, used the charred end to pen a note.

"Take this to Tarothin" he said to Belegohtar and he placed the note in the dragon's grasp. "Also, take this pixie with you and see if she can lead you to where Alessandra is. Quickly now!"

As Belegohtar lifted from the ground, Mave growled loudly as he lept back onto his bear. Quickly turning around they sped back towards Vesper to find what information they could about the whereabouts of Drayden...
_________________
Honor is the sword I wield...

"If you have to explain why it makes RP sense, then odds are it doesn't" -Leshok (or his DM)

[01:48] Deathwisp: well I always rub the fuzzy part before I pull it off
[01:48] Mave: ...what?
[01:49] Deathwisp: you know, the fuzzy... nvm

Mave Gerhart · Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:40 am Post subject:

Mave rode up to his keep. He was tired but he could not stop, a quick bite and a change of clothes and he would head out again to search the woods of Vesper, questioning all he could find. His mind contemplated who he would find tomorrow to serve as the daily reminder to the citizens. He could not understand why this militia that said they protected Vesper would allow so many of its citizens to die.

As Mave walked in the door, he pulled back the hood of his cloak and at that moment, caught sight of the figure sitting in front of the fire... his shield fell from numb fingers and he felt as if all the strength had just left his body...

"You are safe" he whispered as Alessandra ran to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burrying her head in his chest.

Mave held her tightly, kissing the top of her head, smelling her hair.

"Why would they do that?" she sobbed into his chest. Mave reached under her chin, shaking his head and wiping away a tear, then leaning down and kissing her more deeply than the entire time they had known one another.

For long minutes they stood, just holding one another, him brushing her hair from her face, her tightly squeezing herself into his chest. Finally Mave glanced down and noticed the blood on his cloak and scabbard.

"You must be tired m'dear" he said. "Go sit while I take these off."

Alessandra looked at his clothes and noticed the blood for the first time. "Are you hurt?" she asked, worry immediately lining her face.

"No, no" he said quickly. "This isn't my blood... many things have happened, some you may know about, some you do not want to know about... please, go sit."

With a slight, tired nod, Alessandra moved back to the seats infront of the fireplace. Mave took off his robe, cloak, and scabbard, handing them to a servant and propping his blade beside a table within reach.

Sitting down with a sigh, Mave looked at her, " It was Drayden, was it not..."

Alessandra nodded, slowly touching her cheek and looking back at him. For the next few minutes, they spoke on what she knew, what they had told her...

"Do you know why they let you go?" Mave finally asked.

Alessandra nodded slowly, "They said... they said that people were dying in Vesper... but it was their fault! I warned them what would happen!"

Mave nodded and gently touched her cheek, "As did I m'love, as did I"

They talked further about Drayden, the person he was now...

"I will find him eventually" Mave said quietly, staring into the fire. "He still has much to pay for..."

Mave felt Alessandra's head, lay against his shoulder. Quietly he sat, gazing into the fire, letting her fall asleep with is arm wrapped around her. When she was soundly asleep, he stood and gently lifted her, carrying her to his chambers and lying her in the bed, covering her and smoothing her hair from her face. Then he went across the room and sat in his chair looking between her and the small fireplace in his chambers.

All night he sat there, almost as if afraid that if he went to sleep, someone would come in the night to take her away again.

No more citizens have to die he thought... but there are still those who will pay for what they have done, and battles to be won... no one will dare touch her or any that I love again... it is time to join the war...
_________________
Honor is the sword I wield...

"If you have to explain why it makes RP sense, then odds are it doesn't" -Leshok (or his DM)

[01:48] Deathwisp: well I always rub the fuzzy part before I pull it off
[01:48] Mave: ...what?
[01:49] Deathwisp: you know, the fuzzy... nvm