A Peculiar Encounter (Durzo Blint)

by **Armondir Draseer** on November 13th, 2011, 4:56 pm

82nd Fall, 511 A.V.

Armondir woke early to get a head start on the days work, he had to go down to the forge and prepare a large amount of wrought iron for a plate breast plate. The man who ordered the particular piece was a very large man...around that is. He had come in the day before requesting a plate breast plate, at first Armondir had thought it was for someone else, he did not think a man of his size would need armor. But the man replied, rather angrily, that it was in fact for him. Armondir apologized and got the man's measurements. The man was 71 inches around the chest. He was not looking forward to this particular piece, however he would most definitely charge the man extra both for the labor involved as well as the extra material.

Armondir walked to the water basin and rinsed his face, he then walked to his chest and put on his white work shirt, his work pants, boots, and grabbed his white cloak. The white helped keep him cooler in the forge. He walked out the door of his home, it was a pleasant morning, about an hour before sunrise. It was cool, but bearable by Zeltivan standards. Armondir wrapped his white cloak around his shoulders and began to trudge down the road. The walk to his forge was a bit longer than the walk to his master's. But he enjoyed it, it gave him a chance to think and clear his head. As he was walking past an alley, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped, but when he looked down the alley he saw nothing. That's odd... he thought to himself. He was about to continue walking when he heard a cat hiss and it bolted out of the alley. That was when he saw it...

by **Durzo Basmajian** on November 13th, 2011, 5:46 pm

Making my way through Zeltiva, I made my way to an alley. There was a cat at the end of the alley, and I glided towards it. The cat hissed at me, attempted to paw at me, and ran off. I slightly jumped, as I didn't want the cat to take any of my soulmist, and with this I accidentaly materialized, just the slightest. A white-haired man, probably an armorer, turned his head in my direction, and I disappeared immediately. The man looked my direction again, and I decided to show myself..

I materialized. The man was slightly startled, but he kept remotely calm. I walked over to him, not blinking, as I did not want to frighten the man and have him alert ghost hunters or anything of the sort. I stood there, in front of him, my hood just covering my eyes.

"Who are you?" the man asked.
"I am Durzo. Durzo Blint." I replied. There was silence for a few moments, and I examined the man. He had white hair, and he looked like he kept fit, probably from his work. The man was dressed in white. He was definately an armorer. He was tense, but that was because he was encountering a ghost, not because he was going to attack me.

I stood straight and asked the man his name.

by **Armondir Draseer** on November 13th, 2011, 6:04 pm

Armondir was shocked, too shocked to speak. He had of course heard of ghosts but never had he believed they existed. At least, he assumed this...thing...was a ghost. There was no other explanation for the opaque and misty appearance. He was a little over five and a half feet tall, he wore a gray robe and a hood covered a majority of his face. Armondir wasn't necessarily frightened. But he was weary, he didn't like this thing. It had a menacing posture about it and it never stayed still. The thing asked him his name.

"My name is Armondir...What...are you?" he replied. He knew it was a stupid question, the thing was a ghost. But he did not know what else to say. Nothing else came to mind. He was half tempted to turn and make a run for it, but he decided to wait for the thing's reply, maybe it wouldn't be evil after all.

by **Durzo Basmajian** on November 13th, 2011, 6:23 pm

"I am a ghost. A soul who has not passed on. Why is this? Because I feel there is still good I can do for the world. I feel my purpose here is not complete." My soulmist was moving slightly faster than usual, and this seemed to make Armondir anxious. "Do not be afraid. I will not harm you, it would do me no good. Don't try anything either, you don't want to end up like the last man who harmed me."

I paused, remembering Eznahc and how he stabbed me in the back-- literally. I would not tell Armondir my past, not yet, not until I could trust him. I wondered if he would ever trust me. I doubted it, what living being would trust a ghost? I told Armondir not to be afraid and again assured him that I would not harm him. He relaxed in just the slightest.

"I know what you are wondering.. Is this thing evil? Should I run and get help? The answer is No. I am not evil. I do not harm people. Good people, at least.. You do not want to notify others of my existence." I left it at that. It was true, he didn't want to, and I surely didn't want him to.

He stood up straighter, seemingly overcoming whatever anxiety or fear he had felt. "Hello, Durzo." He said. He said he wouldn't mind getting to know me some more, and I agreed. This wasn't the kind of man who would set me up or attempt to trap me. I asked him where he was going, and he said he was just heading to his forge.

I knew he was an armorer.

"I'll follow you there, we'll talk while you work." I said. He agreed, slightly hesitating, with that anxiety still lingering in the back of his mind. We started towards his forge.

by **Armondir Draseer** on November 14th, 2011, 4:49 pm

The walk to the forge seemed twice as long as it actually was. The presence of this ghost made it an uncomfortable affair. As he approached the forge he looked over at Durzo.

"So uh...you want to come in?" He assumed since the ghost had come this far that he wanted to. But he still had no idea what the ghost was doing here, or how it even had arrived. Armondir lit the forge and began to prepare the iron he would need to make the large man's breastplate. It really was a large job. He uncomfortably began shoveling charcoal and slag into the furnace. All the while the ghost just stared at him, not saying a word.

"So..What are you doing here? Did you come to find me or was it just happenstance that we ran into each other?" He had a ton of questions to ask but didn't want to offend the ghost. He then began to wonder if ghosts even had feelings at all. But assumed if he asked and they actually did have feelings that the ghost would just be offended by the question. He didn't know what sort of power a ghost had if any. But he was going to assume they could summon lightning from the sky and strike him dead until he was sure they couldn't. He knew it was best to stay weary of the thing.

by **Durzo Basmajian** on November 16th, 2011, 6:51 pm

Durzo stood there, back straight, shoulders shifted back, watching Armondir work. He looked afraid, scared of the being that was watching him. Durzo could sense his distress, and this brought a feeling of eerie pride to Durzo. He was being feared by a man who has no idea who he is or what he was capable of. That kind of fear, Durzo thought, was something to be proud of. He studied Armondir's movements, watched which muscles flexed when and how often, and seeing where his strong and weak points on his body were.

Finally, Durzo decided to speak.
"I was born in Alvadas. Before the Great War. My childhood is unimportant. When I was about twelve, I went under the wing of an Assassin named Eznahc. He called me a prodigy. Eznahc trained me hard, and when I screwed up, beat me and trained me harder. I was, by the end of my training, fully ready to kill for the greater good."

"Once I became a Master Assassin, I was sent to kill my first target, an Akalak who had gone insane. The Akalak was killing people left and right, so my killing him did save lives and avenge those who he'd killed. I died during the Great War, Eznahc betrayed me. He stabbed me in the back-- Literally. He said to me, as I was dying, that he was doing this because I would ruin him if he didn't. I told him I'd get my revenge.. And.. I did. Trust me, I did. I've been roaming Mizahar for centuries now, trying to do good for the people and do the job I once had."

by **Durzo Basmajian** on November 28th, 2011, 7:26 pm

Durzo was getting bored of this standing around, not doing anything. He decided it best to leave, as he was not doing any good here.

"I am going now. Do not speak of my existance. Or else." Durzo muttered in a low voice to Armondir.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of." He said. This seemed to strike some fear into Armondir, and Durzo could see it. He vanished, turning invisible, and left. For some effect, while he was leaving he threw a glass mug across the room. It exploded against the wall. Durzo smirked, knowing he'd struck some fear into the man, and left, not bothering to open the door.

Durzo stepped outside, into the cool air of autumn. He felt good, he felt powerful. He roamed the streets, searching for anything that may be going wrong in the city. He saw.. Nothing. This city was functioning fine. Durzo decided that coming here had been a mistake, and decided he'd leave. Unsure of where he'd go next, Durzo walked to the top of the college of Zeltiva and sat on the roof and thought. (End)

by **Paragon** on January 13th, 2012, 10:28 pm

Armondir :

Durzo :

Nice little thread, would have been good to see a little more. Durzo, try not to switch points of view mid-thread. Stick to third person in future - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.