I will admit, just a little bit, to being pleased that I managed to catch you unawares with the latest Ilmatu story -- I feel that the stories should be like them: sneaky, creeping up on you when you least expect it, and just horrifying enough that you'd rather not have it happen again.
Twice "Falko. Falko. Falko, what are you doing?" Lawrence, Lord of Hinbaar sat down heavily on the throne of skulls and stared at Falko, who ignored him while continuing to try and pull a painting the size of his torso off the wall. "Looting, Larry, looting," said Falko. His voice went from normal to strained as the painting came free and he discovered it was painted directly onto wood. "This is a painting straight from the lair of the lich; it doesn't matter that it looks like it was made by mashing someone's face into a wall until the artist thought it was red enough, its background story raises its value enormously." "There's a chest of jewels bac--" "Got that already. Pretty small chest though, I'm sure the lich should have more than that. So if you're done resting your pretty little feet, you could go check for cupboards, hidden trapdoors into storage cellars, the usual." "Falko." Lawrence sighed heavily. "Falko, my brother is dead. Ursula is bandaging Ingwene, who's also got a broken arm, and you're worried about not having enough jewelry?" "I'm worried about turning a profit on this little escapade!" Falko's words were uncharacteristically sharp. "The outlay on this was a couple of hundred of Realmsmarks, and if we walk out of here with some cheap silver and platinum rings and an emerald necklace that looks like it's missing some stones, we're going to have a hard time breaking even, let alone paying for a round of beers. Yes, people are hurt, but they can still carry stuff! Yes your brother is dead, but how are we going to pay for the revenge you're going to want to take?" Lawrence lifted his head, thinking about Falko's words. "Revenge," he said. "Yes, I must avenge my brother's death! Thank-you Falko. I was letting despair get the better of me." "You're just lazy," said Falko. "You're still sitting there instead of finding light-weight valuable stuff. At least go and loot the corpses of the lich's guards. And check everywhere, they tend to push the good stuff up... inside themselves, if you get my drift, for safekeeping." "Revenge," said Lawrence, not listening. "You hear that guys? Revenge! I will avenge my brother's death!" "You have my sword," said Ingwene, who was deathly pale and swallowing a lot like she was going to throw up. "You have my shield," said Ursula, tying another bandage off and frowning at her patient. "Fine," said Falko the necromancer. "And you have... your brother. Well, his reanimated corpse anyway. Who is going to carry this rather nice bronze statue out of here first."
["twice" inspired this by the notion that Larry gets his brother (at least) twice in his life thanks to Falko and his slightly questionable morality :)]
2 comments:
I will admit, just a little bit, to being pleased that I managed to catch you unawares with the latest Ilmatu story -- I feel that the stories should be like them: sneaky, creeping up on you when you least expect it, and just horrifying enough that you'd rather not have it happen again.
Twice
"Falko. Falko. Falko, what are you doing?" Lawrence, Lord of Hinbaar sat down heavily on the throne of skulls and stared at Falko, who ignored him while continuing to try and pull a painting the size of his torso off the wall.
"Looting, Larry, looting," said Falko. His voice went from normal to strained as the painting came free and he discovered it was painted directly onto wood. "This is a painting straight from the lair of the lich; it doesn't matter that it looks like it was made by mashing someone's face into a wall until the artist thought it was red enough, its background story raises its value enormously."
"There's a chest of jewels bac--"
"Got that already. Pretty small chest though, I'm sure the lich should have more than that. So if you're done resting your pretty little feet, you could go check for cupboards, hidden trapdoors into storage cellars, the usual."
"Falko." Lawrence sighed heavily. "Falko, my brother is dead. Ursula is bandaging Ingwene, who's also got a broken arm, and you're worried about not having enough jewelry?"
"I'm worried about turning a profit on this little escapade!" Falko's words were uncharacteristically sharp. "The outlay on this was a couple of hundred of Realmsmarks, and if we walk out of here with some cheap silver and platinum rings and an emerald necklace that looks like it's missing some stones, we're going to have a hard time breaking even, let alone paying for a round of beers. Yes, people are hurt, but they can still carry stuff! Yes your brother is dead, but how are we going to pay for the revenge you're going to want to take?"
Lawrence lifted his head, thinking about Falko's words.
"Revenge," he said. "Yes, I must avenge my brother's death! Thank-you Falko. I was letting despair get the better of me."
"You're just lazy," said Falko. "You're still sitting there instead of finding light-weight valuable stuff. At least go and loot the corpses of the lich's guards. And check everywhere, they tend to push the good stuff up... inside themselves, if you get my drift, for safekeeping."
"Revenge," said Lawrence, not listening. "You hear that guys? Revenge! I will avenge my brother's death!"
"You have my sword," said Ingwene, who was deathly pale and swallowing a lot like she was going to throw up.
"You have my shield," said Ursula, tying another bandage off and frowning at her patient.
"Fine," said Falko the necromancer. "And you have... your brother. Well, his reanimated corpse anyway. Who is going to carry this rather nice bronze statue out of here first."
["twice" inspired this by the notion that Larry gets his brother (at least) twice in his life thanks to Falko and his slightly questionable morality :)]
Greg - hmmph.
I would not be mad if we get more from this group. I love the dynamic here.
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