Legacy 01
#1 of Legacy of Treshter Pack
From as far back as I could remember, I have been an orphan. My only friend, an old tavern keeper, has been taking care of me. A simple arrangement really, I earn my keep as house maid, cleaning up the rooms for new guest when they arrive. The only hints to my past are a pair of fingerless gloves marked with the greater alchemist symbol and a gold pocket watch. I lost the watch when I was five. My curiosity for this strange symbol lead me to my first book, Alchemy: A Dark Art. On my 8th birthday, the date is assumed based on a magical analysis performed when I was found, the tavern keeper gave me a odd pendent. He said that he hid it because the town wizard had claimed unable to identify the great power within it. I guess he thought I was old enough to be responsible with it. Within a weak, I found I could understand how this pendent felt, about anything, and I could use it to amplify my growing talent for alchemy and magic. The pendent had a spell imprinted on it, deep within its memory, Fireball, my first spell...
Alchemy is the art in which physical matter is rearranged into another shape, or an alloy is broken down and remade, either stronger or as something else entirely. The alchemist greater symbol is a sign of the best of the best for only the elite can make it work, multiplying their power tenfold.
Magic is the art of controlling energy to create an effect. Heat can be focused into fire or removed to establish ice. Air can be polarized, encouraging storms and other weather conditions. A body can be energized to encourage regeneration, even as far as materializing new cells from nothing but the power provided.
Both Magic and Alchemy require control of energy, however, it is ultimately what kind of energy you are controlling that establishes the difference. Further, Alchemy is triggered strictly through focus, while magic has yet to show anyone all its secrets and methods. There is also a different focus dividing the arts. Say you wanted to create a pillar of stone: magically, you would have to will the force of power to lift the stone from the earth; alchemically, you would command the iron ore to rise at your command.
I'm now 15 years old, living in the same old town with the same people and king. Our kingdom is little more than a village in the Norse regions of the world, and aside from the occasional dwarf, a human territory. I myself am a human male named Keth. I'm slim but tone, 5'8" and little more than a toothpick compared to the Viking warriors I'm use to seeing. I have thick bear skin boots that come up to the middle of my shins, denim jeans, lion skin shirt and a thick brown fur vest. This vest has chain mail in it, though it can be hard to tell. I now have a Norsemen standard sword (broadsword to me), and one of the fabled books of Merlin (something to which I have yet to understand), in addition to the Alchemy book and pendent I already had. After my chores, I would normally run off to train, either in the woods or at the castle tournament grounds, but today, I had a visitor. The man had noticed the Alchemist sign on my gloves, and told me he had a job for me. The construction of the tavern had the bar on the first floor and the rooms on the second floor, so after getting my stuff together, I went downstairs to discuss the details of this endeavor.
"This is no simple request, but my village has been going through various problems and no amount of magic seems to help. Seeing you got me to thinking, and its possible we may have simply been going about it the wrong way."
Keth: "So what's the problem?"
"Well now, right to the point. I like that." The stranger gives a chilling grin. "And that's problems, not just one. Everything from repeated crop failure to attacks from trolls, werewolves, even half-blood dragons."
Keth: "oka\?" (interrupted)
"The pay is 2500 Gold, 500 now, the rest on completion."
Keth: "I can't promise anything, but I'll try."
"That's good enough for me."
After leaving notice with the tavern keeper, whom would never tell me his name... I wonder why? Sorry, back on track, I left with the stranger to investigate the dilemma to which he spoke. The trip took 5 days. Nothing was happening when we arrived. 3 minutes in, and we found out why. Trollish spear heads littered the ground around a large camp fire, human, trollish, and lycan skeletons littered all around. The trolls had won the last battle...
The stranger, whom had finally introduced himself as Kaulrin, began to sputter random curses but quickly regained his composer and started giving orders. First, I was to inspect the crops, and identify the problem. Then, search the campgrounds and pull up ANY information available. I didn't even have time to mention I was still a novice before he began searching the buildings. Keth: "Okay..." First thing's first, the crops. I placed a hand on the ground and began to focus. Roots, dirt, decomposing plants, iron, and ... and ... What the hell? I dug a 2' hole to confirm it, but there had been a tunnel dug right under the crops. It didn't matter what they did, there was simply not enough soil to support anything. Using my pendant as a lantern, I ducked my head in for a better look. The entire village was suspended over an artificial cavern, as well as some 30 yards in every direction. Evidence of fresh dirt and clean shovels suggested the cavern was dug recently. When I told Kaulrin about it, he gave a long sigh and handed me 2000 gold coins.
Kaulrin: "Your work here is done, return home."
Keth: "Say what?!"
Kaulrin: "They're after this village's secrets, something no child should have to bare."
Keth: "You don't make any sense."
And after that, a man in black falls from the sky, impaling Kaulrin with a die-katana. Aside from the black outfit, 7' sword and long white hair, I know nothing about this creature, it left faster than it came, a horizontal dash to the west, flying at almost unimaginable speeds. No, I take that back. It was unquestionably humanoid, at about 6' in height. And it took Kaulrin with it. Confused and a little scared, I took Kaulrins advice and left.
If I thought things would get easier on the way home, I was hopelessly wrong. Two days into the return trip, a freak blizzard hit strong. As if things weren't bad enough, before I could find shelter, I found a body, half buried in the snow. It was a lycan female, still alive, but barely. Her left leg was broken, her right leg raw, and there were various cuts and punctures just all over her. It took another half an hour, but I found a small, den by the looks of it, hopefully abandoned, and I carried her on in.
Keth: "Okay, now what ... 1. Start a fire. Wood? Found some. Flint? Got better." I simply hold my hands to the stack of wood and focus on it. In a matter of seconds, a nice fire is going strong. "/deep breath/ Better." Glancing back to look the lycan over again, I can't help but to notice this beautiful women before me (I had an affinity for wolves anyway), but my mind quickly snapped back into focus. Keth: "I can use my alchemy rather than stitches, but I don't think I'm strong enough to mend bones, and fireball wouldn't work either, so magic's out the window..."
After splinting her leg, and managing to regenerate some half of her lost flesh, I went out after more wood. It had taken an hour to tend the lycan, meaning it was dark. After another half hour, I returned to the den, and found only a small fire. The lycan had run off.