Mal's observation prompted him to quirk an eyebrow and offer a smirk. "As, it seems, do you, m'lady," he said.
"Returning to my tale, as said, I had resolved to see the Lancer's guild disbanded and its doors barred forever more, thinking that I and I alone had found the secret to true courage, and thus was the only true Lancer in a house of cravens. As it happened, the day I barged into the guild hall to announce my intent, an adventurer but recently recruited into the guild also arrived, recently returned from a training exercise. Having soundly trounced the those I found practicing in the guildhall, I thought nothing of her presence at first. I issued a challenge to the Guildmaster, but he refused it. Thinking him a coward, I instead charged at this novice adventurer, lance at the ready. I halted with my spearpoint mere ilms from her face, but she didn't even flinch. I was intrigued, and chose to leave for a time, and follow her progress from afar."
"I encountered her several times after that while she was out on other training exercises, each time interfering to try and convince her of the rightness of my belief, that true courage could only be found in great danger, forged in blood and rage. I styled myself her mentor in what I believed to be the true path of the Lancer. Eventually, the Guildmaster grew tired of my meddlesome 'lessons', and issued to us both a challenge: to face the Lord of the Bramble Patch, a ferocious boar of monstrous size. The victor in the challenge would be declared the one in the right, she on the side of the guild's, and I on my own."
"We both of us faced the Lord of the Bramble Patch in all his monstrous strength and ferocity. And though we also fought fiercely, eventually he proved the mightier, and my nerve faltered. He caught me with his great tusks and sent me sprawling, knocking me senseless for a moment and causing me to lose hold of my lance in the process. He advanced on me as I lay prone, and when I came to myself, there was the adventurer standing between me and the beast, her courage unshaken, resolved to defend me."
"That proved unnecessary, however, as the Guildmaster arrived and sent the beast away. He was familiar with him it seemed. He declared the adventurer the victor of trial, and admonished me once again for my folly. I refused to accept his words however, unable- or perhaps simply unwilling- to see the truth in them, and stormed off. But his words ate at me over the coming days as I refused to budge, driving myself further into madness and twisting uncertainty into vengeful rage."
"Eventually I fell upon a group of lancers training in the forest, attacking them in a rage. One I allowed to flee, knowing he would draw her to me. The rest I left at the mercies of a pack of vicious Lindwurms that I unleashed upon them. I would be greatly surprised if all of them survived, even if she reached them in time. Some did however, because they alerted the Wood Wailers- those who enforce Gridania's law- and set them upon me, intending to have me arrested." A smile briefly curled his lips, but it contained neither warmth nor humor. "The adventurer found me in Alder Springs, among their corpses."
He quickly became serious again, however. "There I told her the same tale I told you, of my past with the guild, and the reason I desired its destruction. And then I resolved to kill her, in my madness believing that in slaying the only lancer I felt could rival me, I would prove my courage and strength. By that time, there were those who called her a hero, a Warrior of Light. There were tales that she laid even the Primal Ifrit low. I know not how much truth there is in them, but I know that her strength and skill with a lance were worthy of a slayer of gods. In the end, she trounced me so thoroughly that there could be no doubt which of us was the greater."
"Trying to deny it, I backed away from her, flailing my lance before me in panic, not realizing that my back was to a cliff's edge. She tried to warn me, but I did not hear her. I stepped back, my boot slipping over the edge, and I fell to what would have been my death had the magic not brought me here. And here I have been since. The rest you know, or can easily guess."
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chiming
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Date: 2024-05-02 07:18 am (UTC)From:"Returning to my tale, as said, I had resolved to see the Lancer's guild disbanded and its doors barred forever more, thinking that I and I alone had found the secret to true courage, and thus was the only true Lancer in a house of cravens. As it happened, the day I barged into the guild hall to announce my intent, an adventurer but recently recruited into the guild also arrived, recently returned from a training exercise. Having soundly trounced the those I found practicing in the guildhall, I thought nothing of her presence at first. I issued a challenge to the Guildmaster, but he refused it. Thinking him a coward, I instead charged at this novice adventurer, lance at the ready. I halted with my spearpoint mere ilms from her face, but she didn't even flinch. I was intrigued, and chose to leave for a time, and follow her progress from afar."
"I encountered her several times after that while she was out on other training exercises, each time interfering to try and convince her of the rightness of my belief, that true courage could only be found in great danger, forged in blood and rage. I styled myself her mentor in what I believed to be the true path of the Lancer. Eventually, the Guildmaster grew tired of my meddlesome 'lessons', and issued to us both a challenge: to face the Lord of the Bramble Patch, a ferocious boar of monstrous size. The victor in the challenge would be declared the one in the right, she on the side of the guild's, and I on my own."
"We both of us faced the Lord of the Bramble Patch in all his monstrous strength and ferocity. And though we also fought fiercely, eventually he proved the mightier, and my nerve faltered. He caught me with his great tusks and sent me sprawling, knocking me senseless for a moment and causing me to lose hold of my lance in the process. He advanced on me as I lay prone, and when I came to myself, there was the adventurer standing between me and the beast, her courage unshaken, resolved to defend me."
"That proved unnecessary, however, as the Guildmaster arrived and sent the beast away. He was familiar with him it seemed. He declared the adventurer the victor of trial, and admonished me once again for my folly. I refused to accept his words however, unable- or perhaps simply unwilling- to see the truth in them, and stormed off. But his words ate at me over the coming days as I refused to budge, driving myself further into madness and twisting uncertainty into vengeful rage."
"Eventually I fell upon a group of lancers training in the forest, attacking them in a rage. One I allowed to flee, knowing he would draw her to me. The rest I left at the mercies of a pack of vicious Lindwurms that I unleashed upon them. I would be greatly surprised if all of them survived, even if she reached them in time. Some did however, because they alerted the Wood Wailers- those who enforce Gridania's law- and set them upon me, intending to have me arrested." A smile briefly curled his lips, but it contained neither warmth nor humor. "The adventurer found me in Alder Springs, among their corpses."
He quickly became serious again, however. "There I told her the same tale I told you, of my past with the guild, and the reason I desired its destruction. And then I resolved to kill her, in my madness believing that in slaying the only lancer I felt could rival me, I would prove my courage and strength. By that time, there were those who called her a hero, a Warrior of Light. There were tales that she laid even the Primal Ifrit low. I know not how much truth there is in them, but I know that her strength and skill with a lance were worthy of a slayer of gods. In the end, she trounced me so thoroughly that there could be no doubt which of us was the greater."
"Trying to deny it, I backed away from her, flailing my lance before me in panic, not realizing that my back was to a cliff's edge. She tried to warn me, but I did not hear her. I stepped back, my boot slipping over the edge, and I fell to what would have been my death had the magic not brought me here. And here I have been since. The rest you know, or can easily guess."