<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'>N<font size="2">ice story my friend!<br>
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Chris<br>
The Lurking Fox<br>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Nathan Pfaunmiller <azariahwolf@gmail.com><br>
To: MKGuild <mkguild@lists.integral.org><br>
Sent: Thu, May 5, 2016 12:24 am<br>
Subject: [Mkguild] What the Spirits Reveal<br>
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<div dir="ltr">A short story based on an idea I hashed out with Misha last night, likely to become part of a larger story that is planned for the future. Alex, the patrol leader for my main cast, is from the Glen, and will be visiting his home following the current storyline. This scene takes place at the tavern as he discusses the Glen's final stand prior to the Three Gates with Lord Avery.<br>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt" id="docs-internal-guid-84952905-7f28-b6d9-cd93-e8a44b86e30c"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“I sometimes wish I could have seen those last few moments, to see how they died,” Alex mused. “I have no doubt that their death was honorable, that they fought to the last breath, but to have been there, to have seen them fall, and to have been able to bury them rather than just marking a grave in their honor would have given me far more peace.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Bryan Avery nodded. “My father and brother would certainly have spit their last bloody breath in the faces of the enemy, but I understand your desire for closure. Had Angus not been tasked with keeping me alive through hell and high water, I would have stayed to my own death. The best we can do now is remember the fallen, and resolve to keep safe the town for which they died. Perhaps one day the gods will tell us of their final exploits, but until then we can only imagine.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Alex chuckled quietly, drawing the curious gaze of the squirrel. “Perhaps,” he mused, “while the gods are silent, we may instead consult the spirits.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">The squirrel remained confused until he noticed Alex gesturing to him with his mug of beer and recalled the mazer which sat, nearly forgotten, by his elbow. With a wry smile he lifted it to Alex, tapping the two vessels together in a casual toast.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“Spirits!” he declared, addressing the mug in his hand. “Tonight we seek your guidance, revelation from the last moments of our fathers and their heroic fall.” The squirrel’s boisterous bravado had drawn a few confused glances from about the bar.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Alex smiled as he watched the eyes turn to watch them. “Use us to tell their final tale tonight, to reveal their hidden deeds and the hours that time has lost!” he added.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“Reveal their deeds!”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“Reveal their ends!”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“To the fallen, a toast!”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">*</span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"> </span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">*</span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"> </span><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">*</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Nearly two hours later, with the good graces of the free-flowing spirits, the archer and the lord had turned into a pair of raving fops, declaring the stories of the Glen’s last stand to anyone who would listen -- and many did, some even encouraging the ever-more outlandish tales that the drunken pair spouted.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Berchem, perched on the edge of a barstool, added his voice to the insanity. “Don't forget the ogres that they killed on the bridge!”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“Ogres? Nay, GIANTS! Two -- two giants to a man,” Lord Avery slurred around a drunken belch. “One pair spitted by an arrow -- a three-headed arrow that Sir Valius had crafted in the heat of battle -- through the eye of one and the throat of another…”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“Another pair decapitated at the jaw by the older Avery’s sabre -- nay, nought but his scabbard, sharpened amid the lord’s deft parry of a lutin axe!” Alex cried. He ears were flushed from the combination of drink and impassioned storytelling.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“Aye, the same axe which my brother shattered with a strike from his warhammer, scattering shards which pierced through armor and skin, tearing to ribbons the final pair of giants.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“But even thus, having survived the final onslaught, the defenders realized the grave danger of their actions,” Alex added. “The hells ran over with the hordes of Nasoj which they had slaughtered, even the daedra and all of their demonic armies unable to contain them for number!”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Lord Avery nodded emphatically. “So the last few defenders were obliged to die to lend their aid to the beleaguered forces of hell -- but not to remain. By right of conquest they destroyed their enemy a second time, and then left the hells to the daedra while they took paradise by force.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“Though there they were welcomed with open arms, for even Dokorath feared to resist them.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">“They were greeted by songs and feasting,” the squirrel lord added. “Even now they tell the tales of their final stand where all great heroes rest, and greet the souls of heroes fallen since with song and celebration. Comport yourselves well, my friends; the fallen of the Glen await after your final battle!”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">A rowdy series of cheers rose from those assembled, several toasts taking place at random about the room whether any given person had someone to toast with or not. Lord Avery and Alex laughed heartily and toasted once more to the memories of those they had lost, and to the future day when they would meet again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">A few more moments were spent embellishing the tale as patrons recalled imaginary exploits for their heroes of lore. When they all finally did part ways, many of the Glenners stumbled home stone drunk, while a squirrel and a lynx, neither as drunk as they had played for the crowd, left together, smiling proudly at the fictions that they had lovingly crafted. Perhaps someday they would learn more of that day, but for now they could remember that dark day as they wished. The heroes who had fallen to defend the Glen would not be forgotten, nor would their beloved home ever be left in ruin.</span><br>
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