Teal's Story
Prologue
Freeport, one of the busiest cities in Norrath once run by the corrupt guards under the leadership of Lucan Dlere but now no longer. After the Battle at West Gate the corrupt guards were destroyed, Lucan defeated by the Knights of the Rose and their allies. Freeport is once again the trading city is was before now under the leadership of Lord Caseyas and Lady Sylune. The Knights as they were are now scattered across the lands, but soon they will be brought back together. Called once again to the defense of Freeport and her people. One of these people is Teal, Cleric of Mithaniel Marr, retired knight now owner of the Rising Inn in the common lands home of the best brandy in the world.
Chapter One – The Beginning -
Teal stood behind the bar at his inn and sighed, the life of an innkeeper was an easy one, sure there were plenty bar fights to break up all the time, but he was bored. Teal dreamed of going back to adventuring with his good companions, but that time was long past, he had responsibilities now. Teal shook his head and smiled,
"Never thought I'd hear myself say that" he mumbled. Teal glanced up above the bar, there mounted on the wall was his old mace, the silver fins of metal which made up the mace shone in the fire light, slight impressions could be seen on the hilt where years of use had worn away the handle. Teal looked around the inn, the few usual customers were in drinking, laughing, and talking about battles long ago. Brezzi stood near by severing customers as they came, the elf smiled when she saw Teal looking in her direction, Teal returned the smile. Brezzi didn't have to work here but she liked to help out wherever. Something caught Teals eye and he flicked his head around to the door, which was now open blowing back and forth squeaking on its hinge as the wind blew through.
"Hail Teal" came a voice from directly behind him. Teal spun around.
"Tuvas!" Teal jumped back, "I wish you'd stop doing that!" Tuvas shrugged as he flicked his green cloak over his shoulder,
"Sorry force of habit" he grinned. The Ranger sat himself on top of the bar. "Got a message for Aystan, Teal" Tuvas handed over a roll of parchment which he had pulled from a pouch it had a wax seal on it. The wax was red and had a rose entwined around a sword. The emblem of the Knights of the Rose.
"Its Lord or Master Silveron now Tuvas," Teal stated as Tuvas shrugged again,
"I still think of him as Aystan."
"Me too, this is from Lady Sylune yes?" Teal replied as he held up the parchment.
"Yep," Tuvas frowned, "Pretty important too I think."
"Brezzi, could you take this message to Master Silveron right away please" Teal asked the elvish maiden.
"Certainly Teal, be right back" Brezzi took the parchment and with another one of her famous smiles she grabbed her cloak and vanished out the door. Tuvas sighed,
"gotta love that smile," he grinned widely "now how about some of your great brandy?"
Teal smiled
"sure, the moment you get off my bar!"
Brezzi headed straight for Aystan's house, as the cold wind blew her cloak around. The house wasn't that far from the inn, which probly why Themis liked the location so much. She got the door of Aystan's residence, and knocked timidly on the door before entering. Brezzi looked around the room, Aystan sat at his desk while Themis sat a few feet away shuffling though some papers.
"What can I do for you Breezi?" Aystan asked as he stood up, he looked tired as if something was draining him mentally.
"Master Silveron" she nodded in respect before holding out a rolled up scroll "A message came for you at the inn..."
"Thank you lass" He accepted the scroll with a smile. Brezzi returned the smile, blushing a bit before she escaped out the door. On her way back to the inn she bumped in to an amoured Anubis who apologized for not seeing her, then marched of towards Aystan's house muttering something about wishing he could bump into such beautiful ladies everyday.
Teal stood behind the bar and talked with Tuvas who was currently enjoying a mug of brandy. "Since the death of Lucan thing have been quiet, almost too quiet Teal" Tuvas said, the frown returning to his face. "So I've been scouting around Neriak to see what the darkies have been up to."
"Nice to see you still are taking insane risks Tuvas" Teal grinned.
"Na," Tuvas smiled "I've only been seen once, that stirred them up a bit, I'll tell you. The amount of guards doubled and there where allot more Dragoons wandering around, one left the city and headed towards the commons, I tracked him out here some where but then I lost him," he shook his head, "they're crafty buggers I'll give them that." Teal frowned at the news the thought of a dark elf dragoon wandering around in the commons was disturbing.
"I'll tell Themis when he comes in tonight to get his sentries to keep an eye out for him."
"You don't think all this has to do with that Dargan fellow?" Tuvas asked. The conversation was broken for a second as the inn door opened and Brezzi returned. Teal turned back to Tuvas.
"I don't know, but I think we'll find out soon" Tuvas's eyes lit up.
"Maybe its time to bring down that mace of yours and clean up your amour, because I think trouble is coming."
So it starts...
Chapter Two - The Mission -
Later that evening the door to the inn opened again and Themis walked in. "Teal my good friend!" he shouted, "The usual!" Teal grinned and poured Themis a big mug of his famous brandy.
"Good evening Themis, there are things I must talk with you about." Teal said to his friend.
"Right, to the conference room then?" Themis asked,
"Yes, please Themis" Teal replied. The conference room as it was commonly known, was a room on the second story of the inn that was only used when something important was being discussed. "Take a seat Themis" Teal pointed to one of the chairs at the table. Themis grabbed a seat and sat down,
"What seems to be the problem Teal?" Themis asked.
"Hail Themis!" came a voice from near the wall, as Tuvas stepped out. Themis jumped off his seat, nearly up-turning his drink.
"Hell," he swore, "Tuvas, don't do that!" Tuvas laughed loudly,
"If that's the reaction I'm going to get from you every time I do that, I'll have to do it more often." he laughed some more, "it was priceless, hahaha" Themis grumbled something about throttling a certain ranger, before sitting back down.
"Ok, fun times over Tuvas" Teal turned back to Themis, "Themis, Tuvas has come into information that there is a dragoon loose somewhere in the commons." Themis frowned,
"That's not good news Teal, Aystan just left not three hours ago on his way to Freeport."
"The message from Lady Sylune?" Teal asked, "What did it say?"
"I don't know, something about being needed in Freeport right away, Talmar said something about Aystan being needed there right away."
"Yes I did," Talmar spoke as he appeared out of nowhere. All three of the friends jumped this time. This time Themis did spill his drink.
"Arggg! People are jumping out of every where," Themis looked at his drink with a raised eyebrow, "how strong is this drink Teal?"
"Talmar, my friend, it has been too long" Teal said, as he went to embrace the druid, but as he did he passed right through his old friend. "What the Hell?"
"This is but an image of my true-self my friends, I am far away at Surefall glade where I am needed, but each of you has a part to play in the trouble brewing in Freeport." Talmar's image said.
"What trouble Tal?" Teal asked.
"That is not for me to say, only that you must travel to the city, there you will find your answer, also a lot of your old companions. The Knights must gather once again, to save Freeport from certain doom."
"Eh?" Themis said looking very confused. Talmar's image flickered and faded away.
"Wow, I didn't know he could do that." Tuvas stated flatly.
"Druids are full of surprises and they don't ever seem to make things easy do they?" Themis said.
"So it seems we are also needed in Freeport." Teal frowned. "Themis you should stay here for now, and keep the commons under control, Tuvas and I will head for Freeport."
"All right some action!" Tuvas grinned.
"I'll get Brezzi to look after the inn for me, Themis keep away from my brandy, we need you sober."
"Oh, damn" Themis said as he carefully poured what was left of the brandy into a hipflask while no one was looking.
"Come on Tuvas, lets see if I still fit into my amour."
"Probly not fatty," Tuvas joked. Teal smiled and headed down stairs with Tuvas and Themis following. After a brief struggle and a lot of cursing Teal was into is amour, the bronze still shone like new, as Teal had kept it in perfect condition.
"Bet you never thought, you'd be wearing this again did you?" Tuvas said as he strained on the last buckle.
"Nope" Teal shook his head, "just thought it would stay an ornament." Teal walked around the room, he grinned widely it was good to feel the familiar weight of bronze on his shoulders again. The Knights emblem still rested near his heart shining out. Teal rubbed the rose and sword with a gloved hand and smiled. Tuvas looked at his old friend, Teal looked like he was ready to take on the world.
"Right lets get going," Teal grinned again, as he pulled his shield from above the hearth. The inn's few customers looked briefly at the amoured innkeeper before turning back to their drinks. "Look after the place while I'm gone Brezzi" Teal said as he took his mace down off the wall. "
I will Teal" she replied "and good luck on your journey" she waved as Teal and Tuvas walked out of the door.
"And keep Themis away from my brandy!" came the voice from outside. Themis swore again.
Chapter Three - Teir’dal -
The cold wind blew around the two cloaked figures as they walked along the winding gravel path. The rocks crunched loudly under the bigger figures feet but no sound came from the smaller form next to him.
"Too bad there were no horses left," the bigger man sighed.
"That's alright don't like horses anyway." The other replied. This comment brought a laugh from the taller man
"I thought Rangers liked animals?"
"We do, I just don't like horses, they don't agree with me, besides I like walking better anyway." The ranger stopped, crouched and pointed at the ground "Teal, look, here is Aystan and Anubis's horse tracks, this set is Anubis's, see how the tracks look, those are of a running horse, further up they stop and wander around in circles." Teal laughed,
"Anubis is being a bit impatient with Aystan I think." Suddenly Tuvas swore loudly, Teal looked up from where he was studying the tracks "What Tuvas?" Tuvas pointed at another set of tracks on the ground, these ones where foot prints.
"These are the dark elf's tracks, they come out of the woods over there," he said pointing into the distance, "walk around the horses tracks then run off towards Freeport. I think he's going try and cut off Aystan and Anubis."
"Are you sure Tuvas" Teal asked.
"Certain, I tracked him for a few days remember, those are his foot prints" Tuvas frowned.
"Come on lets get going, hopefully we can get there in time to help those two." The two companions ran off through the woods following the dark elf's tracks.
The two companions followed the trail for nearly two hours before they came across an area where a great struggle had occurred. Tuvas looked around
"This is where they fought," Teal saw a body lying on the ground several meters away from where they were standing. He rushed over a sighed with a great relief when he saw that it was the body of the Dragoon, the headless body.
"Found the rest of him!" Tuvas stated from a few feet away. "Who ever hit the dark elf, hit him hard." He looked around in disbelief. Teal smiled,
"Seems Aystan isn't as old as everyone makes him out to be." Tuvas looked at Teal,
"Aystan did this, how do you know?"
"Just trust me Tuvas, it was Aystan." Teal glanced down at the lifeless body of the Teir'dal. "Can't leave this lying around, who knows who could stumble across the body." Teal raised his hands over the body of the Dark elf and murmured an incantation under his breath, a pulsating red glow appeared around Teals hands as the body flared up into flames and then smoldered down into ash. "He deserves no better than to rot in the sun, but we can't have people finding a dark elf's body in the woods, it would start a panic." Teal took his gaze off the pile off ashes on the ground and started to walk towards Freeport. "Come on Tuvas, we still have a way to go yet." The two walked away from the battleground.
"Hey Teal, that fire thing must come in handy when you're camping eh? ...
Chapter Four – The Ghoul -
Night was quickly falling on the two travelers, as they walked side by side towards Freeport.
“I think this is far enough for today Tuvas.” Teal stated as he pointed to a group of trees, “We’ll camp here for tonight.” Tuvas looked around,
“Ok, Teal I’ll see what I can do about getting us some food.” The ranger melted into the surrounding trees and vanished. Teal smirked,
“Wish I could do that.” An hour later Tuvas returned with two skinned rabbits in his hands, he threw them to Teal as he spoke,
“You’re the cook, see what you can do with those.” Teal busied himself with preparing the meal of rabbit. Soon they had a fire warming their cold bodies, and two rabbits spitted across the flames. Tuvas suddenly shivered violently,
“Brrr, boy did it just get cold.” Teal stood up the moment the cold hit him. His eyebrows came together in a deep frown,
“Get ready, death approaches.” He grabbed his mace and balanced it in his gloved hands as Tuvas leaped up to stand next to his friend. They peered into the forest as they heard an inhuman cackle. The smell of death was nearly over powering as two skeletons stepped out of the darkness and into the firelight. Skin and bits of decaying clothes hung off the skeletons yellow bones and one of them waved a rusty scimitar back and forth in front of him. Tuvas looked across at Teal who had bowed his head and was whispering under his breath. Suddenly his eyes rose towards the scimitar-wielding skeleton, he pointed his hand at the skeleton, which looked at him with one eyeball that rolled back and forth inside the socket.
“Be-gone to where you came undead scum,” Teal said with no emotion as a white blot of light shot from his finger, the skeleton exploded into little shards of bone as the spell hit it, the sword clattered to the ground. The second skeleton charged at the cleric with its hand’s stretched out like claws, suddenly Tuvas was there, he sliced down with his blade taking the arms right off the undead human then spinning around he sent the head of the skeleton flying into the forest. The headless body stood on the spot for a second shaking slightly before crumbling into dust.
“Hardly worth standing,” Tuvas said as he shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s not over yet Tuvas,” Teal said as he pointed at two red eyes staring at them from the darkness.
The Ghoul looked at the two humans standing near the fire, they should be easy targets, but these humans were different, both had the stench of good but the one wearing the shiny metal instilled a sense of fear in the ghoul, the fact that they had dispensed of the two skeletons had not worried the ghoul, plenty of humans could kill skeletons, they were weak, it was they way they did it they had the ghoul hesitating. The bigger one had done something that the ghoul could not figure out. Then hunger for the living overwhelmed the ghoul’s thoughts and it charged forward.
“Hold it back for a second Tuvas, so I can cast another spell!” The bigger one shouted. The ghoul headed towards Teal with speed unexpected from a dead thing. It stopped and snarled in pain, as something slashed across it’s back, the second human had hit it with his sword as the ghoul had come past. The first human forgotten the ghoul hit out at the green cloaked figure, there was a crack of bone as the ghoul connected with the human’s arm. The human yelped in pain, the ghoul formed what could have been a smile as it attacked. The human was on the defensive now, backing away as the ghoul took swings at him. The ghoul screamed in pain as a bolt of white light slammed into its back, its skin burned and the ghoul felt like it would explode. It turned to where the bolt had come from and as it did a spiked mace smashed into its skull. The ghoul’s world spun as blackness closed in, thoughts disappeared as the mace and what was probably a sword came in again.
“Hold still Tuvas I need to heal this bone,” Teal said as he held the ranger’s arm, blue light surrounded Teal hands and the broken arm knitted itself back together. “It will still be sore for a few day’s, there is only so much I can do.” Tuvas grinned as he rubbed his newly healed arm,
“That’s ok I’ll live, thanks Teal.” Teal looked around the campsite and sighed,
“Come on, grab those rabbits and let’s move on, I don’t feel like sleeping any more, we’ll eat as we walk.” The two packed their possessions and walked off once again towards Freeport.