Re: Live from the Inquisition : a seshnegi tale / part I

From: Eric Vanel <eric.vanel_at_V21cS7CMyjQ52TtEWdOBYiAds71zuOgkSNyp9JFwt0cqNQbfJ0pIZ2GvxB81Jz48a>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:49:53 +0100


Great !
Heavy mood indeed. Look forward the next parts...

Eric

  This is my first attempt at fiction, which is why it is so plodding and slow.   But I beg you, do modify it, change sentences, suggest what comes next, enrich   it if you're interested.

  I picture the (yet nameless) main character as a young rokari monk of the   Inquisition, who comes to investigate a faraway village. He suspiciously looks   like Johnny Depp in "Sleepy Hollow". Here goes...

  Reverend and Learned Father,

  I have arrived at the hamlet of Woippy three days ago. It is a community of   about forty hearths located a few leagues only from the eastern edge of the   accursed Kanthor forest, where beasts dwell.

  The local dronari immediately recognized my exalted status as a Wizard of Rokar   and offered proper respect and hospitality. I was given shelter in bailiff   Hatto's house where he keeps a squad (I think it is proper horali term) of   soldiers to fight off beasts from the accursed forest. While crude, it proved   proper accommodation, but kept me separate from the local community you had sent   me to investigate for heresy.

  How often have I wished that the teachings of Rokar would allow us to disguise   ourselves before the prying eyes of heretics, so we could observe what they seek   to hide from the Inquisition's Justice. But Rokar's Message is clear and we must   show our exalted caste before all. Because of the emergency of your request, I   had no time to send some of our dronari agents ahead of me and had to lead my   inquiries through questioning of the locals.

  I had their headsman, one Bartram the Yeoman, gather them at the Church, which   state of neglect should have warned me about what was to come. Bartram began the   liturgy then gave me the chair, and I read how Malkion instructed Dronar about   his duties. Then, by the Grace of the Book, I extended my Sight has you taught   me. At first glance, nothing was amiss - the flock of Essences was pure and   untainted by pagan corruption. But many of the men seemed to struggle to   remember their Prayers, and the "Victory over the Ice" Chant was weak and   mangled. But before Confession could begin, Hatto burst into the church and   shouted an alarm. It seemed like beastmen had been spotted close by and he   quickly gathered a third of the men and left in haste, even though there was   only one hour of day left.

  Left by my devices, I wandered around the village alone and could feel the eyes   of the local women following me. Rokar's Teachings tells us Wizards not to risk   corruption by talking to a female and I abstained, despite my suspicions. I   noticed a crone walking away from the village towards the west, led by a young   girl not ten winters old - again just before dusk. When I tried to follow, a   weakness overcame me and I fell to my knees, shaking. I had to stagger back to   my quarters to recover, and prepare to invoke the Powers of Inquisition to   discover what evil lurked in this village.   

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