From the mouth of a paladin (reposted)

[Qoith]

***This story lost from the BB this week – I had a copy of the original story – but I have had to re-write my follow-up story – and just to be clear – The story is by Qoith and he does sooo hate elves, Scorpion***

A small run of bad luck with my weapons saw me needing to visit the Silken Alley to complete a deal with a shady assassin to acquire some more. As much as I dislike visiting that place in the forest, the trip is often necessary and usually fruitful as well. I noticed that my suggestion to some of the half-elves that have chosen to live with the elves have continued to fall on deaf ears, so I corrected that situation deftly, and made them dead deaf elven ears…

I headed back to the Amethyst chapel, in order to rest and decide where next to direct my growing hatred. Who should I find there but a couple of paladins, Erill and Noone. Now Erill was once a good friend, but he fails to understand or accept my hatred of elves and finds the way I have directed my feelings as abhorrent. If the loss of his friendship is one of the prices I must pay, in order to gain strength from my hatred then so be it. As for Noone, he is an elf so nobody need ponder my feelings towards him. In fact, already Nrel and I have played some games with him and I know he is foolish in actions and weak in body …

I spat and snarled at Noone’s presence and in typical knight’s fashion, Erill leapt to Noone’s defence. “He is a paladin first ..”, prattled on Erill and “.. nobody sneers at young paladins in my presence”. I pointed out that in my eyes, Noone was an elf first and that I have no particular argument with paladins in general. He would not be subdued and insisted upon a duel. Now in my short life, I have entered a few duels, most knowing I would be defeated. I could allow this knowledge to dishearten me, to give up hope but I have been given much advice in my short life and I now accept duels as a valuable experience – with every loss, I learn something new. I truly believe that this accumulation of knowledge will one day see me more powerful then any elf in the Land …

As I recovered in the chapel, I endured the usual paladin ravings about good and evil and how Noone was a brave knight .. blah blah blah. I let the words wash over me while I analysed the battle to figure out what I had learnt. Suddenly my elven ears twitched and I heard Erill’s words “Noone .. opposes .. evil”. He didn’t realise what he had said - but I did and I seized upon the idea …

Searching through my sacks, I found a bolt of cloth and a brush. I spread the cloth out on the chapel floor and eyed Noone and pondered out loud whether he would give up a few drops of blood for my brush but he snivelled and cowered in the corner. Erill continues on with his knight's diatribe but I let the sounds of his voice drift over my head. I used my axe to make a small nick in my skin of my wrist - my hatred for the elf nearby dulled the pain. I started to paint the words in bold strokes - the bright red of my fresh blood standing out clearly on the creamy coloured cloth. At one point, Erill paused and wondered what I was doing but then he continued with his rantings. When I was finished, I used an unused portion of the cloth to bind the cut on my wrist. I found a old polearm in a sack and attached my banner to it securely. Once it was dry and I was fully healed, I wound up the banner and put it safely away. I headed out of the chapel and waited for Erill to appear – I wanted one more attempt to squash him – but alas, success alluded me once again. He did, however, accept a truce – has he finally accepted that my fight is with elves and not him – only time will tell …

With the matter of duelling over, my feelings returned once again to the elf that continued to disturb my rest in the chapel. I removed my banner from my sack and stepped outside the chapel. I proudly unfurled it and held it high above my head. I then proceeded to run through the streets of Amethyst – the banner streaming behind me proclaiming for all to see "Noone opposes EVIL in the Lands" …


Several days later …

Today I witness the suicide of Noone and it brought a warm glow to my heart. I unfurled my banner for one last time and waved it high. I then lit a small fire outside the chapel and threw it on. Several other, including some elves looked on. I only hope that one day, they will follow Noone’s lead and remove their elven presence from the Lands .. (OOC: and return as half-elves who hate elves and will join me in their persecution)