Balthazar Woll

[Stug3]

I know it is probably not the case but since Muhk's incarceration I seem to be having difficulty finding anyone to do a bit of adventuring with. I see plenty of people out and about but I just...just...well I don't know. I've not seen Raven or Ell for quite awhile and that seems to be bothering me more than it should.
I have seen Caer and Amanda about as I often do but I always feel like I'm intruding. I feel like horse number three in a two horse show. Not that they have ever said anything or probably ever would...but nonetheless.

Where am I going to find a large and smelly compainon with a foul temper, who is shockingly uncouth, completely unrestrained, extremely ill-mannered, likes brawling, biting and spitting, who is completely un-housebroken, an astonishingly deep pit when it comes to food with a certian amount of moral flexibilitiy, who likes to wander and who says little?




So I bought a horse, maybe I can teach it to spit...?

[Stug3]

Got the chance to vist Muhk...
He looks pretty good and the cell seems to have suffered little. As for the guards I can only begin to guess what they have been going through with one such as Muhk in residence...I wish I could say I fell pity for them....but I don't, so I won't. Infact I had a hard time keeping a civil toung in my mouth while we were there.
Although he did'nt say anything I doubt for a second thet he does not know what is going to come from this...'hearing'. I am under no illusions that anything justice like will come from it. I am certian it will be little more than a "dog and pony show" to allow those in charge to say "we had a fair hearing and he was found guilty..." No trial...just on to the hearing; you're guilty..and here is your punishment.
How could there be true justice? Justice is about balance...and if this hearing is not to find that balance but only assign blame and punishment than how can it be justice? I feel the balance has already been maintained...they attacked us...they died...the books look pretty balanced to me.

Mistakes were made on both sides...now one side continues to make the same mistake of pushing those inclined to push back. You can push the lawful around, those of less stringent moral fiber?...we'll just have to wait and see what happens....

[Stug3]

I woke this morning bathed in sweat from an unsettling dream...

Bad dreams should be no surprise and I should suffer many more than I have. The ambush of my youth, the 'Vymetal affair' and scores of other things that should keep me awake at night but don't...

I dreamed of smoke and fighting...
At the gates of Hempstead stood an army; Half-Giants, Half-Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, Humans, Elves and Dwarves. When hailed to bring the name of their General the reply was given. "We are legion...for we are many."

As I stood on the wall braced for the fight a voice boomed up from the ranks, a familiar voice...my voice. Called up to me were four simple words "Where will you stand?"
I already stood on the wall; I had friends along the wall. Tegan stood less then twenty feet away with fire dancing in her hands, Caerwyn with bow ready stood next to Amanda, I could see Iellwyn further down as well. There were many I have traveled with, spilled blood with and all stood along that wall...

Then I stood in ranks looking up at the walls. Here too I stood among friends; Gloom shifted from foot to foot two ranks ahead. Off to my left Warsinger wiped his hands on the Half-Giant ahead of him. Farther along the rank I stood in was Volga who stood with his finger jammed up his nose, searching for that elusive booger he seems to be always searching for. I could see Raven quietly looking down the shafts of her arrows, her scared face half hidden by her shoulder as she looked at the sky down the shaft of the arrow in her hand. Arkenon muttered wordlessly as he prepared, his great furs a calming shade of blue in the sunlight. I heard a well-known snort and looked to see Muhk leaning out from our rank, helmet-less and grinning that big toothy grin of his at me.... I removed my helmet to give him a smile back but when I looked again he was gone...

Smoke caused my eye to water and the acrid taste was in my mouth. I could see burning embers floating along on the wind but there was no sound. Figures flitted through the smoke and as it cleared I could see the battle that raged just beyond its edge...

Friends fighting friends, such a terrible sight to behold...
Familiar faces fighting and killing other's they had stood should to shoulder with before. I watched as Tegan let fly with her spell that engulfed Gloom in fire; burning and shrieking soundlessly he continued to attack as the flames danced on his flesh. Warsinger sat cross-legged looking confusedly at the stump where his arm had been. Amanda was dragging a limp Caeryn by the shoulders, tears streaming down her face. Using what appeared to be a dead Kobold as a weapon I saw Volga with at least a dozen arrows in him battling on, his door sized shield held dozens more. In the midst of all this I remember wonderering to myself just how he had lost his ax and acquired that Kobold? A great pressure in my head caused me to look up and on the wall I could see Ell perched on the edge casting in to the throng of combatants, arrows sliced by so close that her clothes had been shredded and blew in strips out behind her. Following the storm of arrows to their source I found Raven, working her bow so fast I could hardly see her hands as she was so intent on picking Ell from the wall...

A hand spun me around and I was lifted off my feet by the throat. Muhk had come; just as he always did and just as I knew he must. It was inevetable that I would face him, I knew this would come...how could it not?
Over his shoulder I could see me...I was fighting behind him, keeping his back clear as I had done so many times before, holding his back to free him to do what he does best. Hanging helplessly at the end of his arm in the middle of this silent battle of friends I could hear one thing...the words that drifted up to me on the wall. This time they did not drift, they were bellowed into my face as Muhk had changed into me. This other Balthazar was screaming "Where will you stand!" as he plunged a dagger through the vision slot of my helm....

I woke screaming, drenched in sweat and feeling like I needed to be sick...the words still pounding in my ears... "Where will you stand?"....

Where would I stand...
With my friends against my friends or against my friends with my friends...

[Stug3]

I was unable to sleep last night and I wandered the streets of Hemp for several hours. I had no particular destination in mind and went where my feet took me.
The streets were eerily quite and the air itself seemed heavy and expectant. It was as if the city itself if it were waiting with its breath held for something to happen. I was not the only one to notice as both Polly and Tuggs commented on it... 'Calm before the storm' came to mind. I'm not sure that is accurate but there is defiantly something on the wind. We'll just have to wait and see what blows in...

Tuggs and I talked for a time about him being the most unobservant, sharp-eyed joker in town. He can spot traps a league away with ease but missed some very telling signs that if any closer would have been in his shirt. That's the way we are as men...we think with our stomachs and only see with our eyes...or eye in some cases...

Hindsight is 20-20...what if you only have one eye...

[Stug3]

Muhk is still incarcerated and I continue to wander without any real direction...
I have had some fine outings lately; stormed through the mountain passes with its rock tossing giants, took the head of the lizard leader and presented it as requested, made an incursion on the forest giants camp and on into the cave for some opals, wandered the desert for a few days, stalked the Sinister Forest and the Ore Hills (carrying seven hundred pounds of ore for Sein), all with good companions; I count myself lucky to have these good friends and companions. I have had the good fortune to have Ell, Caer and Amanda on all of my latest adventures. They are as excellent in the attack as they are in the defense, and I know I can count on these three to get me out of trouble faster than I got into it. To have such friends is truly a gift...