Post by Rowenna on Jun 2, 2009 0:09:51 GMT -5
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The timeline is slightly in flux. I can edit it for continuity later (adjusting ages, mostly. I will most likely scale Rowen’s age so that everything works out).
One year after the death of Grayson, Lerris is hunting for Grohn. Lerris leaves for weeks at a time, touches home, then leaves again after Grohn, never finding him. Rowen openly challenges him, wanting to keep the family she has left. Lerris ignores her. Finally, Rowen is reduced to tears, which wakes Lerris up and he decides to stay with his family.
Ten years later. Lerris never truly gave up on finding Grohn. He uses contacts as his eyes and ears in other places, who can’t provide information he doesn’t have. Theredor, whose family has been hurt by Grohn, is one of these people, and has worked with Lerris for some time now. In effect, Lerris stays with his family. A business meeting between Theredor and the new-and-angry-vengeful Lerris would be an interesting way to start this section. This might be a good place to mention an uncrossable mountain range (explained later).
Meanwhile, Grohn is out there, somewhere, and married with a son. He has never completely gotten over wanting to kill Rowen. Evidently, his wife is much like her. Enter Tomah. Tomah is traveling in the wilderness, let's say, few day's ride from Mirkwood, and Grohn comes across their camp. He sees them for what they are, as Assassins, possibly a traveling band of mercenaries, possibly a traveling band of soldiers. He gets an idea. Alone, he could never get through into Aryan and kill the one he seeks, but if he were to disguise himself as a soldier and travel in a troupe, he could pass by easily and do what he must do. He approaches Tomah. He could do so in the form of lying, perhaps pretending to be a recruit in want of a worthy cause. When Tomah mocks him, Grohn realizes with certainty that they are not soldiers but Assassins, and he comes out of his guise and tells them he wants to deal.
Tomah invites him into a meeting. Grohn tells Tomah that he must get to Aryan, and he will make it worth his while. Grohn may lie about an inheritance he will give Tomah, or he may offer the bounty on Rowen's head, and he tells Tomah his plan: to drift into his group for a time on the condition that they travel through Aryan.
Tomah listens patiently, then tells him how the meters run. He gives his story: Tomah had perpetrated bloody acts against Gondor in an attempt to gain control there. After a number of attacks, some high nobles dealt with him in secret, promising him power in exchange for the territory's safety. He served there as a high advisor for ten years, with establishment for all of his men. At the end of the ten years, war threatened to spill over between Rohan and Gondor. His place as high advisor became shaky at best, and he feared loss of power. He was forced to relocate, and by the fight's end, both sides were too mangled to be of any use to him. To be a noble in Gondor was nothing anymore. So he had to move on.
That was fifteen years ago. Here, he gestures to one of his men, who brings forward a beat-up hostage with a burlap sack over his head. The hostage is forced to his knees, and the sack is ripped from the figure's head.
It's Henrogene. Tomah explains himself.
The elves are a disappearing breed, he says. There are so few left in the world, their kind becoming almost a myth to the outer human cities. It would be useless to attempt control over the elves because there are no more elven kingdoms to master; however, if an elf were murdered, surely, they would rise to defend against whomever had perpetrated such an act.
Tomah gestures to his men. His Assassins are, in a word, multicultural--there are men from Gondor, men from the shoreline islands, and men from Rohan--and he, their mother hen, pecks at them to assure they all stay in line despite their differences. His men do as they are told. The ones from Rohan, though removed by years, still look Rohirrim, still move like them, talk like them, and act like them. If an elf were to be murdered by Rohan, then surely, the elves would rise up against them, and if the elves took on Rohan, then surely Gondor would follow against their age-old enemy. The moment would be such as the old wars in the days when Gondor and Rohan fought against a common darkness, only the sides and the names and the faces would have changed. With Rohan crushed, and the elves side-by-side with Gondor, Gondor would rise to its former glory. Half the battle was morale, making the people of Gondor feel like they were powerful, feel like they were a nation to be reckoned with. And so, he would have his place with them once more.
So, no, he was not interested in chasing after women in coastal villages. He was headed for Rohan, where the elf would die, and the war would begin.
Tomah declares the meeting over. He rises to go, and Grohn decides it would be a good idea to kill him. Grohn attacks from behind.
Tomah turns out to be physically adroit, and effectively turns and prevents the blow from hitting home. He tells Grohn that he has killed men for less than that.
He also tells Grohn that he has killed a boy for stealing a necklace from his purse. This is a reference to Byron.
However, judgment is not a measure of more or less, a mathematical yes-or-no equation so much as a matter of circumstance. The circumstance here is intrigue. He makes an offer. He will agree to take Grohn in as an Assassin, a real one--absorbed amongst his men. He wants to observe Grohn, and offers no promises, but if he sees fit, he will take them to Aryan, at which point his obligation to the Assassins is terminated, and he may go on his own way after the deed is done if he chooses. Grohn agrees.
Enter Byron. Byron's history was told as a boy whose family was taken by an Assassin called Tomah Goshawk. Goshawk forced upon him a necklace he still keeps as a memory of what happened, the necklace, itself, he hates but wears. We don’t need to retell his part, but just to make sure we all understand.
Byron has bad dreams. He’s haunted by images he doesn’t understand, and though he can’t see them clearly, he’s driven farther and farther away from home, obsessed with finding something, he doesn’t know what. Sometimes leaving days at a time, he eventually stumbles on the sight of Tomah passing through a wood, at which point Byron immediately turns back.
The plot of this thread is Byron finding Goshawk again. He storms in on Lerris and Rowen and demands their help--even threatening to turn Rowen in if they do not comply. They do. We’re open for awhile, but when Goshawk and his Assassins do cross paths with Rowen and Company, Rowen, Lerris, Byron, and Theredor get their asses kicked. Rowen is taken hostage. All else are surrounded and could be killed on a whim. Rowen asks what Tomah wants in return for Byron, if it’s money or what. Tomah says to her, and to her only
“You’ve become a ghost, Rowen. The villages remember you, and you’ve dropped off their eyes, and you have become a specter that haunts the nighttime traveler’s paths. I want to capture a ghost. I can’t be the man that killed the golden stag upon which God said “Live” because no other man could kill it; but if I could be the one to bring back the body… that the beast threw down its own self and said “Enough”, that God took it whole to Heaven, ahh… I want your ghost. I want your immortal body to bring back unto the world that I might reinvent your story.”
Rowen and the others are released, with Byron hostage. No one else knows what Rowen was told. Rowen goes off on her own, and only Lerris follows. Rowen and Lerris have a last moment together before she poisons herself. She dies in Lerris’ arms. For a brief moment, Lerris leaves her body, at which point Grohn takes out some anger on it. Lerris takes Rowen back to Grohn. Byron is distraught. Byron is unbound, and takes his chance to defeat Tomah. He forces Tomah to his knees and makes him wear the necklace. Byron kills Tomah.
After this, Lerris is done with that life. He wants to take Samuel across the mountains into territories unknown, never to return. The specific mountain range has a near-myth status, because no one is known to have ever crossed it because it is so high, and no one knows what is on the other side. Byron wants to go with him, but upon rejection, he finds his place with Henrogene. At the same time, Grohn finds that he has nothing left to live for now that Rowen is dead, and he drinks himself to inebriation. Theredor finds him and sends him to the jailhouse, where Grohn takes his own life. I think it would be interesting if the scenes of Grohn being apprehended and jailed mirrored the moments of To Dream In The City Of Sorrows.
The... end.
Notes: I strongly recommend that no one directly mention that Byron has visions. I think it’s kind of cool that it’s just one of those things that happens, and that Byron’s not even totally aware he has this gift. For those that don’t remember, Henrogene saved Byron in the war between Gondor and Rohan, and somehow transferred some of his ability to Byron (perhaps, even, without knowing it; that knowledge is up to Gluey).
The timeline is slightly in flux. I can edit it for continuity later (adjusting ages, mostly. I will most likely scale Rowen’s age so that everything works out).
One year after the death of Grayson, Lerris is hunting for Grohn. Lerris leaves for weeks at a time, touches home, then leaves again after Grohn, never finding him. Rowen openly challenges him, wanting to keep the family she has left. Lerris ignores her. Finally, Rowen is reduced to tears, which wakes Lerris up and he decides to stay with his family.
Ten years later. Lerris never truly gave up on finding Grohn. He uses contacts as his eyes and ears in other places, who can’t provide information he doesn’t have. Theredor, whose family has been hurt by Grohn, is one of these people, and has worked with Lerris for some time now. In effect, Lerris stays with his family. A business meeting between Theredor and the new-and-angry-vengeful Lerris would be an interesting way to start this section. This might be a good place to mention an uncrossable mountain range (explained later).
Meanwhile, Grohn is out there, somewhere, and married with a son. He has never completely gotten over wanting to kill Rowen. Evidently, his wife is much like her. Enter Tomah. Tomah is traveling in the wilderness, let's say, few day's ride from Mirkwood, and Grohn comes across their camp. He sees them for what they are, as Assassins, possibly a traveling band of mercenaries, possibly a traveling band of soldiers. He gets an idea. Alone, he could never get through into Aryan and kill the one he seeks, but if he were to disguise himself as a soldier and travel in a troupe, he could pass by easily and do what he must do. He approaches Tomah. He could do so in the form of lying, perhaps pretending to be a recruit in want of a worthy cause. When Tomah mocks him, Grohn realizes with certainty that they are not soldiers but Assassins, and he comes out of his guise and tells them he wants to deal.
Tomah invites him into a meeting. Grohn tells Tomah that he must get to Aryan, and he will make it worth his while. Grohn may lie about an inheritance he will give Tomah, or he may offer the bounty on Rowen's head, and he tells Tomah his plan: to drift into his group for a time on the condition that they travel through Aryan.
Tomah listens patiently, then tells him how the meters run. He gives his story: Tomah had perpetrated bloody acts against Gondor in an attempt to gain control there. After a number of attacks, some high nobles dealt with him in secret, promising him power in exchange for the territory's safety. He served there as a high advisor for ten years, with establishment for all of his men. At the end of the ten years, war threatened to spill over between Rohan and Gondor. His place as high advisor became shaky at best, and he feared loss of power. He was forced to relocate, and by the fight's end, both sides were too mangled to be of any use to him. To be a noble in Gondor was nothing anymore. So he had to move on.
That was fifteen years ago. Here, he gestures to one of his men, who brings forward a beat-up hostage with a burlap sack over his head. The hostage is forced to his knees, and the sack is ripped from the figure's head.
It's Henrogene. Tomah explains himself.
The elves are a disappearing breed, he says. There are so few left in the world, their kind becoming almost a myth to the outer human cities. It would be useless to attempt control over the elves because there are no more elven kingdoms to master; however, if an elf were murdered, surely, they would rise to defend against whomever had perpetrated such an act.
Tomah gestures to his men. His Assassins are, in a word, multicultural--there are men from Gondor, men from the shoreline islands, and men from Rohan--and he, their mother hen, pecks at them to assure they all stay in line despite their differences. His men do as they are told. The ones from Rohan, though removed by years, still look Rohirrim, still move like them, talk like them, and act like them. If an elf were to be murdered by Rohan, then surely, the elves would rise up against them, and if the elves took on Rohan, then surely Gondor would follow against their age-old enemy. The moment would be such as the old wars in the days when Gondor and Rohan fought against a common darkness, only the sides and the names and the faces would have changed. With Rohan crushed, and the elves side-by-side with Gondor, Gondor would rise to its former glory. Half the battle was morale, making the people of Gondor feel like they were powerful, feel like they were a nation to be reckoned with. And so, he would have his place with them once more.
So, no, he was not interested in chasing after women in coastal villages. He was headed for Rohan, where the elf would die, and the war would begin.
Tomah declares the meeting over. He rises to go, and Grohn decides it would be a good idea to kill him. Grohn attacks from behind.
Tomah turns out to be physically adroit, and effectively turns and prevents the blow from hitting home. He tells Grohn that he has killed men for less than that.
He also tells Grohn that he has killed a boy for stealing a necklace from his purse. This is a reference to Byron.
However, judgment is not a measure of more or less, a mathematical yes-or-no equation so much as a matter of circumstance. The circumstance here is intrigue. He makes an offer. He will agree to take Grohn in as an Assassin, a real one--absorbed amongst his men. He wants to observe Grohn, and offers no promises, but if he sees fit, he will take them to Aryan, at which point his obligation to the Assassins is terminated, and he may go on his own way after the deed is done if he chooses. Grohn agrees.
Enter Byron. Byron's history was told as a boy whose family was taken by an Assassin called Tomah Goshawk. Goshawk forced upon him a necklace he still keeps as a memory of what happened, the necklace, itself, he hates but wears. We don’t need to retell his part, but just to make sure we all understand.
Byron has bad dreams. He’s haunted by images he doesn’t understand, and though he can’t see them clearly, he’s driven farther and farther away from home, obsessed with finding something, he doesn’t know what. Sometimes leaving days at a time, he eventually stumbles on the sight of Tomah passing through a wood, at which point Byron immediately turns back.
The plot of this thread is Byron finding Goshawk again. He storms in on Lerris and Rowen and demands their help--even threatening to turn Rowen in if they do not comply. They do. We’re open for awhile, but when Goshawk and his Assassins do cross paths with Rowen and Company, Rowen, Lerris, Byron, and Theredor get their asses kicked. Rowen is taken hostage. All else are surrounded and could be killed on a whim. Rowen asks what Tomah wants in return for Byron, if it’s money or what. Tomah says to her, and to her only
“You’ve become a ghost, Rowen. The villages remember you, and you’ve dropped off their eyes, and you have become a specter that haunts the nighttime traveler’s paths. I want to capture a ghost. I can’t be the man that killed the golden stag upon which God said “Live” because no other man could kill it; but if I could be the one to bring back the body… that the beast threw down its own self and said “Enough”, that God took it whole to Heaven, ahh… I want your ghost. I want your immortal body to bring back unto the world that I might reinvent your story.”
Rowen and the others are released, with Byron hostage. No one else knows what Rowen was told. Rowen goes off on her own, and only Lerris follows. Rowen and Lerris have a last moment together before she poisons herself. She dies in Lerris’ arms. For a brief moment, Lerris leaves her body, at which point Grohn takes out some anger on it. Lerris takes Rowen back to Grohn. Byron is distraught. Byron is unbound, and takes his chance to defeat Tomah. He forces Tomah to his knees and makes him wear the necklace. Byron kills Tomah.
After this, Lerris is done with that life. He wants to take Samuel across the mountains into territories unknown, never to return. The specific mountain range has a near-myth status, because no one is known to have ever crossed it because it is so high, and no one knows what is on the other side. Byron wants to go with him, but upon rejection, he finds his place with Henrogene. At the same time, Grohn finds that he has nothing left to live for now that Rowen is dead, and he drinks himself to inebriation. Theredor finds him and sends him to the jailhouse, where Grohn takes his own life. I think it would be interesting if the scenes of Grohn being apprehended and jailed mirrored the moments of To Dream In The City Of Sorrows.
The... end.
Notes: I strongly recommend that no one directly mention that Byron has visions. I think it’s kind of cool that it’s just one of those things that happens, and that Byron’s not even totally aware he has this gift. For those that don’t remember, Henrogene saved Byron in the war between Gondor and Rohan, and somehow transferred some of his ability to Byron (perhaps, even, without knowing it; that knowledge is up to Gluey).