Death Or Fortune Read online

  Death or Fortune

  Written by James Smith

  Story by James Smith and James Chesney

  Death or Fortune

  ©2012 James Smith & James Chesney

  All rights reserved.

  All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Originally published online in blog format. The world of Majius and the land of Atalanxia and all characters in this work are the property of James Smith and James Chesney and cannot be used without permission.

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Photo by Candis Chin and Jim Nymberg

  Cover art by Matt Golden

  For my mother, who will not care about anything past this first page.

  J.G.S.

  Contents

  Forward

  1. Memories

  2. Leaving

  3. Lost

  4. Haze

  5. Fate

  6. Pathfinder

  7. Rock

  8. Crawl

  9. Blocked

  10. Trap

  11. Warning

  12. Late

  13. Late

  14. Epiphany

  15. Command

  16. Dream

  17. Hellfire

  18. Honor, Duty and Justice

  19. Lordship

  20. Home

  21. Hunted

  22. Dusty

  23. Cursed

  24. Clash

  25. Paladin

  26. Travel

  27. Tales

  28. Brother

  29. Father

  30. Assassin

  31. Ghost

  32. Rum

  33. Warrior

  34. Blood and Tears

  35. Avoidance

  36. Father II

  37. Shadows and Light

  38. Visions

  39. Uninvited Guest

  40. Falling

  41. Leaving II

  42. Growth and Change

  43. Betrayal

  44. Dusk

  45. Waiting

  46. Paladin II

  47. Parting Orders

  48. Waves

  49. Moving Out

  50. Family

  51. The Hunter and The Guardian

  52. Barren

  53. Turning Over Stones

  54. Trapped

  55. Students and Masters

  56. Tremor

  57. Souls Lost and Found

  58. Deception

  59. Empty Vessel

  60. Shadows

  61. Portal

  62. Priest

  63. The Scribe

  64. Thunder

  65. Over Time, Time Past

  66. Reunion

  67. The Threads of Fate

  68. Key

  69. Home

  70. Fire Heart

  71. Discovery

  72. Unmasked

  73. Strange Visitor

  74. Small Shadows

  75. Collision

  76. Awake

  77. Planning

  78. Enchanted

  79. Musing

  80. Party

  81. Banner

  82. Orders

  83. Wind

  84. Va’Nox

  85. Abandoned

  86. Farm

  87. Stone Tongue

  88. Gem

  89. Steps

  90. Father and Son

  91. Pyre

  92. The Hammer and Axe

  93. Light

  94. Questions

  95. Nightmare

  96. Believe

  97. Sacrifice

  98. Wish

  99. Blaze

  100. End

  Going Forward

  Es-cap-ism: habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine.

  It could be said that living in a world of your own creation is better than dealing with reality. For most people, the first taste of ‘escapism’ comes from one of two things. Sitting on your parents lap, looking at the colorful pictures in a book as your parent reads. Then there is the idiot box, the boob tube, that god damned TV or perhaps in your house it was just, television. Both books and that TV are tools of escapism. Granted, one of them is much better than the other. I had tons of both as a child. Most days I would wake up early in the morning and sneak out into the living room to watch TV. Sneaking is very important here, there is no reason why a three or four year old should be up at six in the morning with his face six inches away from the idiot box. At least that is what my mother or father would tell me when they, on the rare occasion, caught me up that early.

  When the limits of patients were reached, I was most often told one of two things. “Go outside and play!” or “You have a huge toy box full of shit, go play!” Did you know that the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise traveled back in time to get Batman and Robin so they could help fight the Klingons? The Bionic Man wanted to go as well but Steve was just too tall for the transporters in the Enterprise. Every day was an adventure of some kind. Most of it came from my own mind. Sure, I had friends that I could have invited along but not everyone wanted to go down such a deep hole with me. When the toys were put away, it was the books. My mother is to this day an avid reader and she made sure I had more than enough books to keep me busy. Now I am not quite sure who gave me my first comic book. I have always had them in my life. While I am sure both my parents will say that it was them who taught me how to read, I am pretty sure it was really Stan Lee.

  Then came the day something new popped up. I can almost remember the first time I saw this new thing on TV. It was a game that came in a red box and had all kinds of funny blue dice inside. While I cannot remember just what was said on TV I knew two things right away. First, you are going to be a hero! Second, you are going to fight dragons! Any other thing I desired from that moment on took a back seat to that red box. It took me several years of begging to get my hands on that box but it was worth it. That is until I figured out that, it isn’t a good game to play alone and a lot of people just don’t get it. Role playing games are not for everyone. My parents still don’t understand, in fact when I let it slip that I still play these games, I often get that ‘dad head shake’.

  My entire time in school, I knew two people that knew anything about role playing games. It wasn’t until I entered the military that I found people like me who understood what these games are about. Even guys who had no clue what these games were before, wanted to play. Why? Because when your everyday reality is that harsh, escapism is most important. It is something easy to do that can help take your mind off what is really going on in the world. So you visit a world where you can be the hero and no one really needs to die.

  With all that being said, for the last fifteen years or so I have had the pleasure of being able to escape to another world with some of my friends. I was invited to the world of Majius by Mr. Chesney for the first time in 1997. The characters in this little story first touched down on the world in a little place called Eystlund on the continent of Atalanxia. While I am sure he has no regrets about opening the door for me, I don’t think he understood what I would do once I got inside. What started as a simple character history, turned into something more. Something that grew beyond what either of us could have imagined. This is the story of Darmot Kromwell, as told by him, in his own words. Think of it as his personal diary. While at times the story demanded that I take a look at the world through the eyes of another character, for the most part, this is what you have. If you are reading this, I would like to thank you for both myself and for Mr. Kromwell. Yes, thank you and lastly, Welcome to Atalanxia! We all hope you enjoy your stay.
/>   JGS.

  1. Memories

  Time goes by and memories fade. I've decided to write this journal so I do not lose any more of the tale than I already have. I am not going to pretend that I am destined for a long life. I picked up this sword long ago and I may still die by it.

  I will start with my father. Keller Kromwell is a self-made merchant and a swine. To say that he was a cruel man isn't quite right. I am sure at one time he treated people with kindness but I never saw it during my first eight-teen years. If he could not use you at best all he gave you was indifference. My mother Lucinda said that she loved him but I still do not know why. Never did he say a kind word to her. Never did I see him embrace her with any kind of affection. I believe that he was done with her once she gave him the one thing he wanted most, a son.

  For as long as I could remember Keller told me that one day, all that he has built would be mine. Keller saw himself as the king of his very own imagined empire. If he had to cheat and swindle everyone he dealt with in order to achieve that, so be it. He opened his first shop in the town of Caraless, a little more than a day’s ride from Eystlundtowne. It was a modest trading post but it wasn’t enough for him. Keller’s desire was to have to have the largest trade network in the kingdom. Not just Caraless but the entire kingdom of Eystlund. I sometimes think Keller’s ambition drove him to the point of obsession. A little more than a year after he first opened his first shop, Keller was ready to expand. He invested in the best wagons and horses to move his goods. He dreamed of a vast trading empire that spread out to every coast with him at the center of it all, profit coming from every turn of the wheel.

  Sometime between Caraless and Keller moving to Eystlundtowne, I came along. It wasn’t easy for him that first year. When times were tough he would employ thieves to bring him the goods he needed. He would pay them next to nothing and kill them if they tried to protest. When the bodies began to pile up any thought of protest stopped. Having the captain of the watch in his pocket helped as well. By the time I was ten years of age he had the largest shop within a hundred miles. Money is power he would tell me, I think it is the only thing we both agree on.

  The year I turned thirteen he told me it was time for me to become a man. He wanted me to learn the trading routs and how to move the cargo. At the time I wanted no part of it until he told me that he would not be on the trip. He had other matters to attend to. Keller told me, I was a man, I would be responsible. This is when I met the man who would change my life.

  It was around that time that Keller had started to hire mercenary companies to protect his goods. The captain of the company was chosen due to his blood, a half-elf that only went by the name of Windfall. Today I know the man was a bounty hunter and only worked for my father for one reason. "The best way to catch a thief is to have what he wants." I am sure if he ever found out that my father was the one responsible for the majority of the theft in the region he would have just killed him to be done with it.

  Windfall himself was a father of two boys’. One, was two years older than I, the other was just a runt. He looked after me on the road and taught me most of what I know today. He gave me my first blade and taught me how to fight. He tried to teach me other things but the sword was something I understood. The blade was power, with it I could earn respect. Respect no coin could buy. With the blade I could earn the coin to leave behind all that my father wanted me to be. I wouldn't need him or his money. With the blade I could become my own man and do something my father never did; good.

  2. Leaving

  I'd known for a year where I was going, even before I made my plans to leave Eystlund. It was the one place my father had never been able to make connections to, Arcadia. Other merchants in the Eystlund area were able to freely trade with them but no one would deal with my father. Even now, all these years later he has not been able to get one Arcadian merchant to deal with him. Not even in the worst of times and not if I ever have a thing to say about it.

  It was a week after my seventeenth birthday when I started to make my plans. I would need about a month’s worth of supplies, armor and a horse. Any of these things I could have taken from my father over the course of one night but that was not an option in my mind. Once Keller had found out who had taken the items, he would punish my mother. Just as he punished her the first time I told him that I was leaving. It was her kind hand that kept me from killing him that night. Also, I would not start my life as he lived his. Even if he had no one to steal from anymore, he was still a thief.

  I was nine months into my planning when the events started to happen in town. Honestly I never cared about what was going on, I just wanted to leave Eystlund. Leave my father and his corruption behind. Leave behind all that he wanted and find the life that I was destined to live. I never even knew of the missing children.

  From what I know now, it started slow. One here and one there, the town sheriff was clueless. Just as everyone else before him that held the post. In the end he at least made an attempt to find them. It was two months before they had any clue that there was a crime being done. Children run away, folks would say. I even see it here in Arcadia today. When ten children came up missing from an orphanage, the sheriff knew it was time to inform the king.

  King Darius is a good man and when he put out the word for action to be done, it was done. All these events passed me by. I was so intent on my plans. The world was changing and I was watching it threw blind eyes. As groups of adventurers were heading to every direction the four winds blow, I was giving the stable master my last payment for my horse. He spoke of terrible things hiding out there in the dark; all I could think of was my freedom. I rode her home thinking of nothing but being fitted for my armor the next morning.

  It was going to take the black smith a month to finish what I requested. He said he burned through most of his stock in the weeks before and I wanted someone that wasn't connected to my father. One week I thought, one week after I have my armor I will leave this land, never to return. I was a foolish child, grown man or not. Several of the groups that went out came back with nothing to report. Some thought the children were all dead. Had you asked me then what I had thought of it all, I would have told you something about the nice weather and how it was a good day to ride.

  I was in town the day they all returned. I was standing there with a heavy pack of armor on my back and new boots on my feet. Five men I saw, a sight I will never forget. Five men before me and heroes they were all. A wizard in black rode on the wagon. The wagon was loaded down with items, covered with a tarp, being held down by a group of sick and dirty children. The man driving the wagon wore robes that should have been white. I could see his armor under the robes and a single medallion resting on his chest. A gleaming hammer hanging from his hip but it was pale and dark compared to the light coming from his eyes. Such an odd contrast, he was speaking to the wizard, they were friends that much was clear. A third man rode behind the wagon, him I do not know but he was playing with a child as they rode down the road. Next to him was one with a beard made of fire or so it seemed when it flashed in the Sun. Last but not least was a man I would come to know over time but not as I saw him then. Hans tries to tell me that man is dead even if I know better.

  I saw them there, all at once, as gods among men. They were protectors of the innocent and weak. While I had known of the missing children somewhere in the back of my mind, it wasn’t until that day that it dawned on me what was going on around me. I was inspired by that image and I still am today. When I at last set out of town it was what drove me on. I kissed my mother one final time as the boy she raised. The man who returned to Eystlund would not be the same. I do not know where my father was when I set out that night and I did not care. I had the world in front of me and it was going to be mine.

  3. Lost

  The night I left my home in Eystlund I was so sure of myself. I knew just where to go and what to do when I got there. A full day had passed and I had not even made it to the boarder of Eystlund y
et still I carried on. I knew this wouldn't be a quick trip. Another trader back in town told me with loaded wagons it took near three weeks to make the trip from Eystlundtowne to the capital of Arcadia. My horse was young and strong, as was I. I never expected to find trouble on such well-traveled roads. I never expected to get lost.

  I did not want to put undue burden on my horse. I only carried what I needed. Rations, water and my armor were in my packs. I kept my shield in hand, sword on my side. Not to mention I was dressed in my finest clothes. I wore a long flowing cloak of blue, a white silken shirt and a huge hat, with a giant white plume that rested on top of my foolish head. I thought the hat looked grand on me when it reality it just kept the moisture behind my ears from drying out to soon.

  For the first week I was on the road I had only passed a hand full of souls. A messenger who looked like the dark one was after him and a farming family moving south. They said something to me of dark times coming in the north but I just smiled and carried on. The thought that I should at least have my armor on never crossed my mind until the rock hit me in the head.

  My tenth day on the road was nearly my last. I remember the sharp crack that I felt but I don't recall how long I was on the ground before I got myself to stand back up. My horse, the gods bless her stopped the moment I fell. I think she even managed to keep the thief away from me for a moment. Once I was on my feet the lessons Windfall gave me started going through my mind. I quickly unfastened the cloak from around my neck, tossed my hat aside and for the first time, drew steel on another man with the intent to use it.

  I would like to tell you how I easily defeated the thief and went on with my life. I would like to tell you how he never left a mark on me. The man was quick as a viper but over confident once he drew my blood. He came at me with a short blade and had it been an inch longer, my guts would be resting somewhere between there and my mother’s broken heart. He laughed in my face as blood began to stain what was left of my shirt. It was his laugh, that toothless grinning laugh that drew my anger out. He was speaking as he came to me, do not ask me what was said, it was lost to the anger buzzing in my ears.