Hararhar's "goodbye" on discord, via Sam:
******

Hararhar deleted
can't do it anymore
getting perma-lagged by a mob and eating a PK death was it for me
thanks for all the fish!

My role
in case anyone was interested
Chapter 1
When the bards tell the tale, they will say "It began at night, during a terrible storm".

But the bards are wrong, because it started much earlier. Much, much earlier.


A large procession continued to cut through the Untamed Forest, shouting words of encouragement as the laborers swung their axes. Several robed figures seemed to set themselves apart from what they called the "rabble", often with pieces of valuable armor protecting their vital areas or shiny necklaces glowing with magical energy. But they were aware that something was not right. A foul-smelling duergar seemed to notice first, staring off into the shadow of a large birch tree for what seemed like an hour.

"Ded yer see tha' shadow move, yer Excellency? Ah think dere be sumthin there..."


High Priest Morzilaic Ziim had a new pet.

"Cat. Come. Watch your master work," he said as he walked towards a shackled elf.
A slight, tiny jet black felar scampered to follow, sniffing the air tentatively, as if
the smell of the shackled elves' fear was palpitable. Slowly the felar watched as
his "master", the High Priest, continued to extract information from the ever-weakening
elf, quietly inching back towards the shadows of the torture chamber. It was a lesson
the "Cat" would not forget.
Chapter 2
Thwack!

"Harder"!

Thwack!

"Quicker"!

Crunch
Crunch

Thwack!

"More vicious! Stop!"

A slim, wiry black felar stood panting, slightly hunched over as several human mercenaries lay on the ground with various cuts and bruises. A defiant look slowly morphed into a more neutral, stoic
expression as an opulent, heavy-set duergar in ceremonial robes slowly walked over to sparring grounds.

"Pathetic. They all still draw breath," the duergar sneered, before humming in concentration and pointing towards the downed mercenaries and unleashing a foul, stinging cloud of poisonous gas. The sounds of the dying mercs gurgling for breath led to the calming felar surpressing a small shudder. A fact that was not lost about the duergar, for the next thing he did was humming again and pointing towards the felar, laughing in glee as spasms of pain wracked the felar's body and drove him to the ground.

"A living enemy is one who can stab you when you least expect it! You drive them into the dirt!"
Chapter 3
A dirty child slowly looked towards the retreating form of massive Fire Giant, hiccuping once with a giant sob as the bloodstained footsteps faded as they reached the perimeter of Hamsah Mu'Tazz. A quick glance back towards the orphanage led to another giant sob nearly doubling over the child, their harsh, ragged cries heard by many villagers and ignored.

"Child. Stop. Look around. They do not care," a quiet, monotone voice from the shadows whispered.

The child looked towards the shadows, shuffling off towards them as a few tears continued to fall and
as their nose continued to run.

"Who....who...are you? Wha....what are you?" the child asked, shivering with fear and perhaps malnourishment.

A furry hand that ended in five dangerous looking claws snaked out to a point just behind the child's head...before slowing, gently moving past their ear and to a point a few inches from the front of their face.

A single gold coin appears in the hand, motioning for the child to continue to enter the shadows.
Chapter 4
"Master Ziim?"

'Yes my pet? What can your Master do for his Cat?'

"Why name Hararhar? Is that what name was when found?"

'No you foolish kitten! Oh! My! What a chuckle. No my pet, that is the only thing you ever used to say when I first found you. To the point where I assumed it must have been your name.'

A frown creased the face of the felar, before the stoic, emotionless mask was reworn. The duergar smiled at his slave, raising a single eyebrow as a final chuckle escaped his lips.

'Is that all, my pet?'

The felar nods slowly, before being dismissed and fading into the shadows.


In the midnight gloaming you see a wiry felar taking a quick cat nap. Upon the meticuolously cleaned straw pallet it sleeps on you also see several faded parchments, some with illustrations and strange symbols. You see several glowing cat-like figures, wielding great silvery weapons fighting some strange, shadowy creature in one. In another you see a female fela slowly creeping through the wilderness, looking hungrily upon several people trapped in a snare. Before moving away you hear the felar mumble "Is Nnaesharr...Nnaesharr strong, keep safe; Hararhar just weapon...will not be Cat for much longer...no, not enough time...plan is in motion....Ziim doesn't know".
Chapter 5
'Do you know why Order is so important, Cat?'

An opulently dressed duergar is here sitting on a wire-mesh cage, his massive girth nearly crushing a wiry, black-furred felar that is locked inside.

"Mre."

'Well, let me tell you again, so you never forget. The only way to succeed in life is to develop strong, orderly habits. Regiment your day, study your enemies. Create civilization from the chaos. Under an orderly society, civilization can thrive. Businesses can provide whatever the Empire wants. Our citizens will have the finest schools, the finest arts, the best protection."

With this last words, the duergar smiled, placing extra emphasis on the word protection. A glance at the area
around these two shows several bodies, all in various stages of death, some with wreched limbs and broken bones,
others with claw and fang marks littered throughout their corpse.

'Only Darkness and Order can provide this, my pet. You must remember this when you bring death to the Empire's enemies. When you bring death to my enemies," the duerger finishes, a ragged, omnious cackle finalizing the "lesson".


The "Cat" never forgot those lessons. His habits became routine. Which became like breathing to him. Scout on his foes. Bully/bribe Ziim's contacts and suppliers. Slay those Ziim asked him to slay. Every day, one after the other, until he was sure Ziim thought his "training" complete.
Chapter 6
"You're a soul-less monster! I hope you rot in the Nine Hells!"

Those words stuck with Hararhar long after he had risen to the ranks of the Shadow Lord of the Empire. Why some random woman's lamentations bothered him to this day, one could not know. But underneath the calm, emotionless exterior, something was amiss. A fidget here, a slight deviation from protocol there, and something, surely, was wrong.

He had slain many in the long years since he left the Academy. Giants. Elves. Dwarves. Humans. Deep Gnomes. It did not matter. The Empire's enemies must die. The Emperor's enemies must die. The late Ziim's enemies must die. Taking the life of one who has chosen to seek glory never bothered Hararhar...but that woman's cries still did. But why was that one special? Her child certainly wasn't, a mere sprout just in the wrong place at the wrong time during a battle for the Emperor's Orb.

Had he become the monster he was oh-so-good at pretending to be? Had it happened without notice?

Was this....was this a good thing?


Could he ever be....Nnaesharr?


A few hours later, none of this was important. A slim scroll was slipped serendipitously into the Imperial Inquistor's pocket, and the vote was cast. A slight change in the fragrance of the Throne Room was the only notice that anyone was here, but the Inquisitor continued to glare into the shadows for many minutes after the one who had left the scroll had departed.

"That one needs to be watched. I knew there was something wrong with that one, from the moment I saw him. Let us pray to the Dark Lords that one does not win."


A quiet, almost otherworldly, telepathic voice in your head whispers "Oh...this could be fun"
Shoutout to Nalasul
Leuoa
Wijar
Wijara
Trelgrath (my oath!)
Targung
Inaj (you old bastard...I can't believe you IMM'd the day after I voted for you)
Amentat (scary bastard)
ummm, Halimar you're the toughest gnome I've seen
and I'm going to post the logs
of you beating the ever-loving #### out of me
almost deleted there
(that Maus death)
Shadowy friends...you guys are all awesome
got boring retrieving every login
never seeing another Imperial during my playtimes
anywhoo, gf and I had a big fight a couple days ago, and she just got laid off, so I really need to focus on that (my relationship and RL)
so my playtimes would have likely dropped, and god forbid the vote actually finished and I won, no one would want that



Posted comments to Hararhar:
"Dude, Cat was fking awesome. Hope everything ends up okay. :heart:" - Frosty
"Man Hararhar was awesome, really liked you as every char I interacted with. That maethian death... ouch." – Xyfa
“Damn you Har” – Jento
“Looking at your history, I kind of forgot how long you'd been around. I was the tanuki, early on.” – Nalasul
“Wow you deleted before getting to play with martial trance” – Magicman
“@SamFromTheSportsBoard good job bro. You almost got my lowbie conjie on the north road when you jumped in on a fight I was having with someone else. Harharhar was a positive influence in a land where all too few break even.” – Bemused