Post by Marty on May 6, 2013 15:54:40 GMT
He had known there would be questions. He sighed inwardly though. Who to answer first? Pondering only a moment he chooses to answer the questions in the order they were asked.
"Why should you care?" he repeats the mercenary's words. "Why indeed? Well, let us start with the obvious. A mage powerful enough to wipe out the entirity of dragons - do you think he would stop just there? The man who could bring about such an impossible event would attract many to his banner. And there would be those of no little power who would seek to oppose him - either to stop him or to take his power for their own. The war and chaos that would ensue would be cataclysmic for this world.
"No. For that point alone the staff needs to be destroyed. Roben - that was the mage's name by the way - was not so gifted magically as I have said and yet he killed several dragons. Imagine the staff in the hands of someone who was gifted. Someone who had little or no scruples on using it."
He now turns towards Norros.
"You are right," Martin admits, "about how word spreads about these things. But only to a point. You see, we knew word of the staff would get out eventually - no matter what we did - so we tried to limit the damage by spreading false rumours of our own. You will have probably heard of some of them. The Shadow Sword of King Evelicus for example - that sent more than a few mercenaries running off on a wild goose chase. Jornell's Righteous Fury was another we resurrected from legend. Every dwarven priesthood south of the Sea of Fallen Stars must have sent someone chasing that shadow. And there were other relics we spread rumours of.
"By muddying the waters - so to speak - we hoped to buy time; enough time to destroy the staff at least.
"Roben had been careful in his use of the staff. He had no companions so only he and his opponents knew of it. He engaged the dragons in out of the way paces to minimise the chances of anyone finding out about it - he wanted to learn how to wield it to its potential before anyone had a chance to learn of it. And since all if his dragon opponents ended up dead he almost succeeded.
"What he could not take into account was Io.
"The draconic god learned of the staff somehow and purposed to kill the mage and destroy the staff. Realising he could not risk his precious dragons to do this he decided to call upon 'outside' help. He chose someone powerful enough to best the mage. He chose my grandfather, Laryx Ah'relius.
"I was resting up from a previous adventure so he asked me if I wished to go along. I agreed. So my grandfather, myself, and three others set off to track down this Roben.
"It took weeks before we finally did so. He was preparing to battle an old green dragon when we came upon him. The dragon thought we were all there to fight him and in the resulting chaos my grandfather was killed, along with two trackers. We weakened the dragon enough for him to take off to lick its wounds and we finally overcame the mage.
"Realising defeat - and unable to accept it - Roben slashed a dagger across his throat."
Martin pauses momentarily to take a sip of whiskey.
"As I have said, we - the remainder of my grandfather's company - knew the staff was just too powerful to be allowed to exist. I tried to destroy it there and then but the enchantments placed upon it nearly killed me. I knew I needed time to work out how to destroy it but I also knew I could not keep it with me.
"So I brought it here and hid it away with various enchantments, and then went away; firstly to start spreading those other rumours and then to track down a few old acquaintances to see if I couldn't find a means of destroying the staff.
"I was discreet, of course. I couldn't very well tell people what I needed to destroy, but I obviously wasn't discreet enough. Somebody worked out what I was up to and they were clever enough to both track down the staff and to take it almost without my knowing."
He looks Norros dead in the eye.
"So, you see now why you haven't heard any rumours of this staff. I'm sure, given a little more time, such a rumour would have held your ears but I slowed it enough, at least, for that."
Martin looked around at the group.
"That's pretty much the ebb and flow of it all. I can go into greater detail if you need but I'm sure that could wait until we are on our way."
He pauses, frowning.
"Those of you who would accompany me at any rate," he adds, downing the rest of his glass.