Glimpses of the depressed bard

[Nytefoll]

*In the moonlit night a beautiful yet tragic voice travels on the mist thru hlint. As you walk in its direction it become slightly louder and more clear.  Turning the corner a dark figure is seen in the grave yard, sitting curled against the largest grave stone.  His fingers graze in the grass and his voice haunts the crypts.*


I am lost in this dark sanctum
There's no way back now
It pulls me down for eternity
And death would be so sweet
Possessed by the ancient figure
Who has plotted
To take my soul
Too late for me
In my hands
It lies I thought
But I failed
Now he's in me

My soul is lost
In his dark sactum

I'm gone

[Nytefoll]

*while watching a group of dark figures in the hlint cypts Orson whispers to himself*

Three on stones of granite slate, one i spied outside does wait.
Do I hear what the town does fear?
I shall wait and see the devious fate,
And reside in the shadows till the hour grows late.

[Nytefoll]

*You enter the town of hlint expecting a large ale, and are sorely dissapointed to hear the inn is out.  An odd thing to hear, even odder is that the bartender tells you a strange man bought the entire supply himself and headed to the graveyard.  As you pass the graveyard on the way out of town you can hear the soft clanking of glass and a mournful voice in the shadows*

...In the darkness, i stumbled for the door
to find the reason, the time the place the hour
Waiting for the winters sun, and the cold light of day...

* stiff breeze blends in and you lose track of the voice for a few moments*

...And once believed, the tears of the ancients
for you and for me....

*then a bit of sobbing, then nothing*

[Nytefoll]

*orsons paces drunkenly around the graveyard sobbing, in the shadows a woman watches him*

Blast it to hell with my lot in life
Towns people in the town of understanding understand nothing
Threaten to kill me will they
Am I lost in this black sanctum
Falling forever more?
 
*depression takes over and he begins a sad tale, soon the ground moves and a ghoul arises*

why do you come to me?

*it stares*

You are gonna get me killed

*it turns it head*

*drops to his knees and is in shock when teh woman speaks up*


The conversation between the two goes round and round, Orson making little sense as he is still drinking, but with the song over the ghoul retreats to the safety of the grave.  Orson knows he cannot shake this woman, her interest is too great.  But how do you explain the situation...?

[Nytefoll]

*Orson walks thru the trees after a long night of drinking*

Incompetenece, maladjusted bafoons, numbskulls.  It is plain to see by moon shadow as it is by sun light.  Recruite those without power and you shall be weak.  Take unto your camp those who desire power and you shall be destroyed.  

*a bird screeches and Orson whips his head around and gets low, listening*

black of day dark of night take me from prying sight

*disapears*

[Nytefoll]

*you notice Orson wandering thru town, but something about him is very different.  Didnt he have 2 arms last time you saw him, and man does he look upset*

The Previos Night...

*Orson sleeps off his alcohol binge as usual in the Hlint crypts.  But his rest seems to be, shall we say, restless.*

(A large creature brandishing a firey smile speaks) Its time to return Orson, you are coming with us.

*Orson struggles to escape in his dream and awakes to find the dead have risen to the surfaceand are trying to pull him thru the soil.  Struggling he manages to get all but his left arm back, which is currently sinking into the ground.  In complete terror of being pulled below orson retrieves his skinning knife and begins to cut into his own flesh.  In a matter of seconds he is free, and sits watching the last bit of his arm sink below the surface.  He hears some shouting but then passes out.*

The morning after...

*Orson awakens in an inn room, his arm missing but his wounds healed.  Sleeping in the corner is Xander Flameheart.  Orson tries his best to sneak out of the room without any questions*

Xander:  *still head down and eyes closed* You really should rest
Orson:  I dont need your advice, or your healing.
Xander: * a slight smiles but eyes closed still*  thats funny, but i suppose having your arm cut from your body would kill most people from the shock alone.  Perhaps you didnt need me.
Orson:  *looks upset but cant find the words and storms out of the room grasping where his arm once was*

[Nytefoll]

Drinking doesnt seem to be helping with the pain anymore (although it hasnt stopped)  *looks to his missing arm* Bloody dead took my arm, I shall never be whole again.

*suddenly the sky grows dark and a flash of red lights around Orson, appearing before him a very large creature(Harvester of Souls)...the one Orson dreamt of*

Harvester of Souls:  It's Time Orson
ORSON SUCCEEDS A WILL SAVE VS DEATH
Orson: no...no..you arent real....stay away *realizes he has no place to run*
*Harvester of Souls:  you have not heeded the summon, you are coming with me now
Orson:  P...P...lease dont kill m..... *Harvest of Souls slays Orson*

*Orson awakens alive, still armless, in some unknown place.  The skies are turbulent, there appears to be no vegetation, if it werent for the fact that Orson was alive he would think northing could live here.  Looks around he sees he is surrounded by some odd writings in the ground and some wierd flames.  Standng before him a woman that rivals this place in intimidation*

Soul Mother:  you have refused my summons you incolent mortal.
*looking behind him he sees that large creature is there as well...he has really stepped into something now*

(conversation insues where Soul Mother explains that teh dead that flock to Orson do so because of the uniqueness within him, and its that uniqueness the Soul Mother desires for her use.  She would replace his missing arm as long as he pledged to be her mortal witness to the souls that came to him.  Betrayel would mean a fate worse than death.)

*A bizarre undead arm now twitches on the side of Orson as he finds himself back in hlint...the soul mothers laughter still rining in the back of his mind*

[Nytefoll]

http://www.layonaraonline.com/forums/photos/show-album.asp?albumid=141&photoid=1888

//a link to a photo for the above posting

[Nytefoll]

*A fresh new journal, wrapped in deer hide*

the following is the accounts on Orson, servent to teh soul mother.

I would not know where to begin explaining what i am, for so much has changed in my mind that i dont know myself.  What one i thought was a curse iknow as a cursed position amongst the soul mothers minions.  My arm, my left arm, it is no longer my own.  the skin, the muscle, the inner workings of all life....stripped away like some cheap paper wrappings.  Hardened bone, polished an ivory white, some unnatural strength resides within.  Unnatural, that word has new meaning for me now.  For my natural strain of thoughts are of late skewed.  Like the echo of anoter voice in my head.  I control this dead appendage, but it resists at times.  
As to my position one may wonder.  I watch, i wait, and they will come to me.  What once i never uderstood was explained to me.  What i thought an unnatural curse of the dead hounding me,is just that.  The restless soulsfind there way to me, mainl by the call of my voice, the sorrowful tales that i string at times.

*rest of the page is blank*

[Nytefoll]

Jason Freely
Isac Astomine
Francine Drakon
Gremick Mert
Krasken Pointe
Motvin Ver Salin
Lux


The latest souls to arrive and depart to the Soul Mother, may they not make her mad....