Lost and Forgotten
Firque- (Fear-Kay): Elven name meaning "Dark, Forgotten, and Lost"
Arc One: Assassin's Guild
Chapter One: The Unsanctioned Wizard
"Okay… if I'm reading this right… then the city I'm looking for is… right in front of me!" Our newest hero, a young elf of 19 years by the name of Firque, exclaimed, looking up from the map. The boy had dull grey eyes, ebony hair, and pale skin. He was a little tall for an elf, especially for his age. He was wearing a leather cloak with a black pair of pants and a black shirt underneath. His belt had several pouches and cases on it, and inside of a small pocket of his cloak was a generic iron dagger. All perfect for his trade…
As it turns out, if he had looked up an hour ago, he would've seen the rather large walls of the somewhat bustling city on the edge of a grassland. "Oh… Eh. Time to find a wizard!" he said to himself. Too loudly, I might add…
A pair of predatory eyes glanced in his direction, and a pair of rounded ears perked up, both at the mention of a wizard. "Another trouble-maker… Just wait until the boss hears this…" The shady character faded into the shadow of the stables outside the city.
"This city's so big… how am I gonna find one guy in all this?" Firque said to himself. He was in a small plaza area. There was a large fountain in the center depicting three mermaids with their backs to each other spouting water. There were four streets leaving the area, an inn, and several homes. "… Maybe I should ask around. Isn't that how humans do it?" He walked up to a group of large men talking amongst themselves. "Excuse me, sirs?" he said to them. They all immediately glared at him harshly. "Could I ask you for some directions?"
One particularly large man from the group walked over and stood in front of him. "Whass'a matter little elf? Lost in the big city?" he said in a mocking tone. Firque paid it no mind.
"Yes, actually. Could you tell me how to get to the prison? I need to meet somebody their."
The large man looked to the others, who looked back and smiled darkly. He looked back at Firque and smiled the same. "Yeah, sure. In fact, I'll do ya one better! I'll take ya there!"
"Really? Hey, thanks! I don't do well in big cities," Firque told them as they began to walk into an alley. "So, is this a shortcut?"
"Yeah, kid. Sorta," one of the other men said to him.
Maybe humans aren't as bad as the Keeper said they were. These guys seem pretty nice, after all, Firque thought to himself. Then he saw the alley was a dead end. "Hm. We must've gone the wrong way," he looked up to the men, who were blocking the way out. "It's alright. Honest mistake. Maybe we shou-"
"Will you just shut up already? You knife-ears are so annoying!' One of the men exclaimed.
"Not to mention naïve…" another said, walking closer.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I don't really know how to act around humans yet. So, are we still going to the prison?" he asked hopefully.
"Nope," the big man said. "We're gonna beat the living sh-"
"Aww," Firque said, interrupting him. "Oh well. I guess I'll see you guys later." He ran up the wall of the alley and caught a window ledge, then jumped to a garden somebody had outside of their window. From there, he ran further up the wall onto the roof. "I'll see if I can find it from up here. Thanks anyway guys!" He began running along the rooftops.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"That rat bastard," the biggest man said. He turned away and walked back to the plaza area.
Firque began searching for the prison once more "I wonder why this guy got arrested. Did he accidentally burn down a house or something? I hope he accidentally burned down a house. I would love to see a wizard accidentally burn down a hou- AH!" He slipped on a random discarded banana peel and fell into the street below. "… Ow…" he groaned, standing.
A guard witnessed the act and ran over. "Boy! Why were you climbing on the rooftops?!" he yelled.
Firque looked to him in confusion. Why is this guy yelling so loud? "I was trying to find the prison."
The guard yanked him to his feet and quickly put manacles on his wrists. "Well then, let me just take you to it!"
"Oh, really? Thanks so much! I need to find a wizard there. I need his help to start my very own-"
"WHAT?! Now you want to conspire with an unsanctioned wizard as well?! I will personally make sure you are hanged for your crimes!" The guard began dragging Firque to the prison by the chain of the manacles.
"Hey, that hurts!" he told the guard.
"Good, you little runt!" the guard yelled at him, kicking him in the ribs.
"Ow! Hey!" Two other guards saw the scene and rushed over. "Thank goodness! Please, this guy is-," His sentence was cut short when one guard clubbed him in the head with a mace.
"Ugh…" Firque groaned as he sat up. His vision was blurred.
"Kid… Hey, kid.," a voice near him said.
"W-wah?" His vision began to clear slightly and he looked to the source of the voice. There was a human man, not much older than Firque, sitting a few feet away. He was chained to the wall and there was a strange collar around his neck. He wore tattered blue robes. "Um… yeah?"
"I heard you were having some fun before you got put in here," the man said. "Climbing rooftops? What were you thinking?"
"Wait, why is that illegal?" Firque asked the man.
"Disturbing the peace or some crap. And then you had to go and say you were looking for a wizard. Now that really got you."
"What? Why is looking for a wizard bad? What's up with these stupid laws?" Firque asked in complete confusion.
"Wow, kid. You're really, really uninformed. Let me give you a little history lesson."
"About a decade ago, magic was plentiful in all provinces of Tairn. Then, one man started a genocide the likes of which haven't been seen since the persecution of all the races of elves by the drow. See, this guy managed to find an Old God, buried deep inside an ancient tomb in the Nirn Province. Well, this Old God possessed the man and, with his god power bullshit, made all the races of men unite under one banner. Any who refused were slaughtered. Nobody could stand up to him. There were many rebellions, both passive and aggressive.
All were destroyed. The people, their families, their friends, anyone who could've had any relation to the group, were captured, tortured, and killed. When he had finally 'united' everyone, he declared only two schools of magic acceptable; Divination and Illusion. Divination, because he thought it harmless, and Illusion, because he thought it entertaining. He announced that any who wished to practice them must consult him personally. They would be put through trials and determined acceptable or unacceptable. The latter meant death. Any unsanctioned caster or caster using another type of magic is considered a traitor and must be put down without hesitation.
He then put cruel tyrants in charge of the Provinces and had a temple to himself built, which is where he stays now. It's in the Wasteland Province. And, since nobody wants to deal with Super Mutants, Deathclaws, and other bullshit of that province, there are next to no sanctioned mages.
This Old God thrives off of misery, tyranny, and hatred. The tyrants impose laws that cause these. For example, nobody can own a weapon that is not registered with their city's Discipline Department and Armory. The only weapons civilians can own are small knives shorter than three inches and dart guns that fire one inch darts. Most of the people in this world like their weapons quite a bit, so that pissed them off. Nobody can perform an action outside of common normal behavior. That means nobody can express their dislike of… well, anything. That pisses people off even more.
Then there's the punishment. All crimes that the arresting guard rates above 2 stars on their bullshit rating system are punishable by death. I saw a mother of two get executed because her youngest child accidentally kicked dust on a guard's shoe. The two children followed quickly.
Look, I know you're elven, but how can you not know this stuff?"
"Well… my clan is rather… cut off from the world. I just left it about one month ago. I'm trying to start my very own guild!" Firque told him.
"Well, good luck with that now. They have you in the records. Nobody will give you permission for a guild," the man told him.
"Yeah, not if it's legal. But I wasn't planning on having a legal guild anyway," Firque said, lowering his voice. "I'm gonna make an Assassin Guild."
The man raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Well, that's not something you hear every day."
"Yup! But, I guess I won't get to now." He lowered his head in sadness. "Not if I can't get out of here. I came here to find a wizard that got arrested for some reason. I figured if I could break him out, he might join. Guilds like that get popular fast with a wizard in them…"
"… Kid," the man said. Firque looked up. "I'm the wizard."
"NO WAY!" he shouted happily. He leapt across the room and hugged the man. "So you'll join me?!"
"One; shut up. Two; I never said that. But if you get me out of here, then yes. I'll join you." The man thought Firque would explode from happiness.
"Hey! Shut up in there or you won't have to wait for the execution to die!" the guard outside their area of cells yelled.
The man whispered to Firque, "If you get me out of here, I'll join your guild. But it's only until I can manage to find the-… well, the thing I'm trying to find. Got it?" Firque nodded furiously. "Good. Now, how are you gonna get us out?"
Firque reached for his belt… then realized he didn't have it on him. "Dammit, the guards took my belt. Hey guard! Gua~ard! Hello~o!"
The guard walked over aggressively and grabbed Firque by the shirt. "I thought I said shut-" Firque took the guard's dagger and stabbed him in the stomach. He took the keys, unlocked the chains for the wizard, and unlocked their cell door. The two of them ran to the area the guard was in. They saw two chests, a table, several barrels, and a door leading somewhere. Hopefully out.
They checked the chests quickly. Firque found his belt and put it on. He looked for his dagger before realizing that they hadn't found it in their search. The wizard took his spellbook, a few pouches, and couple of other books, put them in his robe, and ran with Firque to the door. Firque tried to open the door, but it was locked. Rather than letting him get the key, Garamond blew the door of its hinges. "I guess that works too," Firque said, the two of them running out of the guard area— and into the barracks.
There were seven guards, all in their civilian clothes. They drew their swords from their beds and moved to kill the two escapees. Firque deftly dodged and plunged his dagger into the guard's shoulder. "What are you doing?! That won't kill them, kid!"
"Well… I don't want to kill them. They're just doing their jobs!" Firque told the wizard as he shot and ray of ice at one guard, hitting him in a place you really don't want to be hit with an ice ray. For several reasons…
"And you want to start an assassin guild…" the wizard chuckled and shook his head. "Well, let's get out of here, shall we?" He made a break for the exit, Firque close behind. They sprinted out of the door and began their run through the city. Turns out, the prison was right next to that plaza Firque had been in earlier.
"Huh. Well, that's kind of funny." He saw the men from before looking at the two of them as they ran from the guards. The wizard turned and shot a ball of acid at the guards' feet. The men looked on with gaping mouths as the two of them ran down the street, dodging civilians the whole way. When they had finally reached the city gates, there were several squads of guards waiting for them. The wizard muttered some words and made some hand motions and there was suddenly a strange dog attacking the guards. Firque suddenly felt a massive burst of speed. He and the wizard made it out of the gates, which the wizard cast a strange bolt of light at.
"That should hold the gates for a minute or two at least. It's too bad this is a plain, huh?" the wizard asked Firque. They were in the middle of a small grassland. If they could run for a mile or two more without getting caught, they would make it to the forest. The burst of speed was leaving, but they were far ahead. Things looked fine. Then came the arrows.
"Aww, come on!" Firque said. Thankfully, the archers were bad shots. Or maybe they were too far away. Most of the arrows didn't come within ten feet of them. But one…
"Ah, shit!" The wizard took an arrow to the knee (yeah, it's cliché. Sue me) and fell. Firque stopped and went back to pick him up. He was moving much slower now.
"Hehe, that really put a damper on things, huh?" Firque asked the wizard.
"You wouldn't be joking if you were the one with an arrow piercing your kneecap." The wizard cast another speed spell on Firque. Maybe they wouldn't die after all…
"Hey, I never got your name," he said to the wizard.
"It's Garamond. Don't forget it, because I hate repeating myself."
Firque sprinted for the forest, dodging hails of arrows and outrunning an entire company of soldiers. Needless to say, with the wizard's magic and the elf's natural and magical speed, they made it to the forest. "That was… fun. Really, really fun."
"For you maybe…" Garamond mumbled. He pulled some horsehair from one of his pouches and summoned a light horse. Firque placed him on it, and then hopped on it behind him.
"So, why didn't you do this before?" he asked Garamond.
"…. Because fuck you. That's why."
"But… you're the one that got an arrow in his knee…"
"Look, do you want a wizard in your guild or not?"
Firque looked down for a second in thought, then looked back at Garamond. "Point taken."
"Exactly. What's the guild's name. anyway?"
"The Order of Dusk," he answered. "Now, we should get moving." They rode on the horse for the next town. Hopefully they could find somebody to heal Garamond. That injury didn't look good…
The Order of Dusk
Moral of the Day: If you throw a baby in a pool of acid, don't expect it to bake a cake.
(Space for other stuff later. Maybe. I don't know yet. That's why it's here)
Members:
Firque- Assassin: Leader
Garamond- Wizard: Guild Mage