Role

Chapter 11

Mageslayer
Added Sun Nov 4 21:00:20 2012 at level 40:

Aulrathdien remained focused on the Commander's task to the exclusion of nearly
all else until he had claimed the ten skulls. Salyeris had said she would know
when he had completed the task and would give him permission to advance in his
guild, but he did not see her from some time and did not receive word from her.
He thought maybe he had miscounted or his kills were somehow unworthy, so his
obsession with reaping, as he saw it, wizards from the world continued.

Finally Aulrathdien did encounter Salyeris again and asked for her blessing,
which she granted. But it is natural that a thing in motion should remain so
until stopped, and so it was with Aulrathdien's murderous crusade. Having gotten
into the habit of prioritizing the hunt for mage skulls above any of his other
concerns whenever possible, that habit continued. He killed many and made
other kinds of progress but slowly, though he always did return to training and
seeking to unravel the mysteries of the Bladesong whenever he may.

Commanders and Drillmasters came and went and still his bloody work continued.
Years ran together and Aulrathdien gave little thought to anything else. Only
a single, awkward meeting with his Lord Thror, a god as disdainful of his
wood-elven nature as he had ever feared, lingered in his mind as an event of
significance in these years, and that is a story for another day. The reaping
was all to him.

And then one day the Destructor of Magic handed Aulrathien a terrifying belt
hung with ethereal mage-skulls, telling him that he had slain more wizards than
any and had earned a place of honor in the village.

This accolade does not cause Aulrathdien to relax or rest on his laurels
anything, it drives him harder, demands he prove himself constantly worthy of
his name. Even beginning to face wizards near to the fullness of their power,
people who arrogantly see the journeyman warrior as easy prey does not daunt
him. He is compelled to try to defy their expectations in the most violent way
possible. Whether anything can reawaken in him a desire for a less singular life
remains to be seen.