Tides of Destiny: part 1. Beginings
 

I walked up the steps of the Keep. The King had summoned me on a most grievous quest. Word around the town is that the pricess has been kidnapped, but that might have been propaganda. The building had walls of marble, and the doors ahead is what you would expect on a Cathedral. There were three guards at the enterance, all donning blue armour. The first one was taking a nap on the chair in the corner. The second was freakishly tall, even for an elf. The third was a stocky man with large hands and a claymore belted to his side. The third man aproached me.
"His Majesty has been waiting for you. if you will just go through that door."
I nodded, and proceeded. the door was reasonably stubborn, but i got it open. Inside the throne room, I saw the King on his throne with two bald advisers on either side of him. There were numerous people gathered in the centre of the hall. The first i noticed was a bulky warrior of some sort. He had shaggy blonde hair and a scar on his face. The warrior leaned on his sword, which was polished until it shined brilliantly. He was talking to someone who was bathed in the light that was streaming through the windows. He had a cloak wrappend around his shoulders. He had a set of chainmail neatly folded behind him. There was a figure behind the throne that caught my eye. He was remarkably short, but quite handsome. He had a set of bolts in his teeth as his hands were busy feeling around the pockets of an advisor who had more gold on him than was contained in the entire castle. The scrawny man had a large number of tools on him. He spotted me from across the room, smiled wickedly and moved into the shadows. I looked over to the other side of the room. There was a seer examining a lance held out to him by another man. The other man was completely encased in purple armour except for his chin area. the mans shadow was different to his boddy shape. It had the shape of a wyvern. The seer was tall and had larger ears than the usual human. He also had crystaline eyes, that were faintly blue. His wise face was a rather refreshing site from all the other people in the room, which either had some sort of scarring or had a mean look about them.
"Ahh, master Garud, welcome. I have been waiting for you." The smirk on the King's face was undescribable. "Gather heros, gather round. Now, my daughter has been kidnapped. I am sure you have all heard this in the towns close by. She is being held in Veldan Castle, to the north of here. The kidnapper is a dark vampire called Carnage. He is to use her for a sacrafice, so he can be reborn as a God. Be wary, as he was a powerful mage before he became a creature of the damned. His minions are scattered everywhere and he will have pittfalls in various locations. I have arranged our wizard to provide you with some supplies and equiptment. Dismissed."

And so, the Quest has begun.

Duncan glances about, noting faces and characteristics of those assembled, the warrior looked like an intelligent, if rather blunt, man as does the newcomer. Though the newcomer had the air of a man of great power about him. Duncan walks towards Garud and extends a hand in ritual greeting.

Thomas sniffed a bit.

"A mage? So what. I'm not a weakling that gets struck down by a wayward spell."

He shifted his weight, and attached his sword to his hip.

"I'm ready to go whenever the rest of you are."

I smiled warmly, as I grasps Duncans hand. Then, the strangest thing happened. I saw something in Duncans eyes. It was a vision of my forgotten past, though only a small glimps. it was just before i went insane. i let go of Duncans hand in shock, and a look of concern crossed his face. I saw Thomas shift his sword and the others seemed ready.
"Okay people, lets move out. we havent a moment to lose"

I then looked at Duncan

"you saw it too?"

"What just happened", said the cloaked priestly figure. "Being versed in many forms of lore and happenings I could help."

Hynd looked over at the cloaked figure. "Uh, sure, the more the merrier! By the way, you might want this back, I uh, saw you drop it when we made our way here..." He says, holding out every last valuable posesssion the figure had on him with his tiny little hands.

"Listen, i dont mind you stealing from anyone else, but dont steal from anybody in this group. underst...". I look at the King. "He looks pretty happy for someone who just had his daughter kidnapped. Whats he up to?"
I pointed to the man in purple armour. "You there, i want you to investigate the King and hang around the palace for a while. You can catch up with us later." The man in purple nodded and moved off, towards the window on the left, which he then jumped out of.
"Alright then people. I am Garud, and I will be leading you on this quest. Lets head down to the basement so that the wizard can give us whatever supplies we need."
I left the throne room and headed down the stairs. I did not check to see if they were following me or not. I was still quite shellshocked about what I had seen in the Seer's eyes. All I saw was me throwing down an ancient book clutching my head. Then I went for my master in the mad rage that possesed a period of my life. A stray tear went down my eye as i remembered his forgiveness as I struck the fatal blow. The words echoed in my mind. "Garud, i understand and i forgive you. Go and be all you can be. The Tides of Destiny await."

Duncan rests a calming and reassuring hand on Garud's shoulder, he slows a little and gets Garud to slow with him. As they lag a few paces back from the main party, Duncan turns to the smaller man, "Would you like to speak on it?"

"im sorry Duncan. Its a personal problem, and i cannot share this pain with anyone. Have you ever heard of the Slaughterer of the South. That was me. I went mad for a large portion of my life. I cannot remember anything before that but i remember every last detail about my insanity, every last attrocity. But, what i saw, i saw that...that... i killed my master. I saw a memory of my past, before i went mad. it was only a small portion of it though. Very small."

I sat down on the step.

"Duncan, i know you are concerned about me, but i have to deal with my own problems. I just cant let this burden get carried on anyone else."

Thomas gave out a gruff cough, and bumped Garud on the way past him.

"The Slaughterer of the South? I spent a year of my life looking for you. You're lucky I don't split you in two right now for wasting my time. However, if we don't all go after the princess, we don't get a reward, which, really, is the only reason I'm here."