Sate the Lion

[Lollercide]

... The confusion, that unexplainable feeling that quelled deep inside his soul. It had always been this way since a month or more ago -- No. It was probably longer, but he couldn't remember how long, and in fact was finding how hard it was to remember many things. Important things. His precious memories. Not at fault of his own mind, any spell, curse, or hex.

They simply no longer existed.

The silver clad paladin marched up the mountain trail by his lonesome. The air was thin and carried cold winds from the Spine that complicated breathing. It didn't help that the sun was setting and he would no longer have whatever little aid its warmth might have provided -- It did not matter, though. The paladin had to connect with something familiar. Something he was built to understand. As convicted as he was in his ways, he could no longer sate the Lionheart with words, for they did not harbor enough justice, setting the soul within a soul in turmoil.

He pulled his scabbard from over his shoulder and drew Bane Slayer, his runes who burned so brilliantly as it knew its purpose. A few steps forward in the muddy ground of the mountain trail was all it took for the first sign of activity, albeit unexpected activity.

"What are you doing here, Hano?"

Unalarmed by the familiar voice, Hano turned to face the figure of Cazen who stood behind him, tugging off his hood.

"And who the hell was the jack-ass in armor setting a new speed record for crossing Aquor?" The rogue pointed behind him with a thumb at the fleeing Clive.

"I don't know," Hano said flatly while resting the tip of his blade against the ground, wrapping his steel clad digits around its hilt. His sea-green eyes turn pensive for a moment before he looks Cazen in the eyes and speaks, "I ... Don't understand it. I can't understand it, Cazen. Why would he take his own life and abandon his child?"

His heart ached at the thought, as well as his mind. Unable to comprehend how a man could so easily forget, or worse yet, neglect one of their most sacred duties when achieving the title 'father'.

Cazen gave no hesitation with his answer, "Because he's a reckless, egocentric, bastard. And he was in love."

"Love is no excuse for what he's done!" The paladin roared at Cazen, his anger from the child's abandonment directed at Cazen.

"As a Servant of The True Deity, Loyalty is valued above all else. As a Knight. As a father. As a man, we all have duties we must uphold. Not for our sake, but for the sake of those we love and protect."

"I ... I can not understand ... can not fathom his stupidity. I can't even think of how to deal with it all." He pulls on his sword, freeing it from the ground and swinging it up to rest its blade across his pauldron. He turns to the now-gathering group of Cartel Bandits preparing for combat, obvious that the paladin's presence had not gone unnoticed.

"... However, This is something I do understand. This is what I became, to deal with this."

[Jai_V]

The memories were not as fresh in Cazen's mind. He had fought along with Hano (in his own way) up the Aquor Mountains. The venerable (in deed, not in age) Paladin had been a ruthless machine of slaughter, felling the indignant Cartel thugs by the score. In truth, Cazen had never seen so many of those he would call his own so wrecklessly throw away their own lives.

Had he been among the Cartel, he would have realized he stood no chance against the Paladin. Had he been a Captain of the Cartel, he would have ordered his men, his assets, his brothers to retreat into the safety of the Mansion and simply overwhelm the Gentleman Thief and the Paragon of Virtue. It would seem Cirion was not the only wreckless, brash and arrogant man in this Valley.

Midway up the Mountain, he had seen Hano's frustrations get to him. He had seen the man behind the Paladin. A brief moment of his composure lost and a righteous fury, exacting an immoderate toll from the corpse of a fallen Cartel thug. "Hano! That's enough!" he said, immediately feeling guilty for ordering the Paladin to martial his feelings. Who was he to tell a hero of Sundren what to do?

More importantly, who was he to be such a hypocrite? He was the proverbial angel on Hano's shoulder: the Gods work through men in mysterious ways. "No need to leave him unrecognizable to whatever God he worships." He felt all his apprehension melt away when the Paladin slung his blade and affirmed those suspicions. With that moment passed, they continued up the mountain.

When they had reached the top, Cazen felt guilty for having Hano along. He had come to this mountain to settle the score with Kurz Vilebelch for felling Tayien. That's really what all of this was about. Sure, it was good for the people of Sundren. Sure, he was happy to come along and see Hano work through the angry brought on by Cirion's stupidity and the thought of a fatherless bastard and it's unfit mother.

But he wanted Kurz dead. He wanted the leader of the Cartel to feel the misery he felt when he found that Tayien's soul no longer answered the call of her body. Inside the Mansion, Hano continued along. They both fought hard and waded through traps, thugs, mages, and Cartel members of every stripe before they finally reached the inner sanctum and Kurz himself. The battle was anticlimatic.

Hano easily smote down the ring-leader of the Cartel and Cazen had the satisfaction of delivering the killing blow, but, as with all revenge, it brought no true peace to the Gentleman Thief. In the midst of the adventure, he had rigged several of the alchemical substances together to blow the Mansion sky-high. The chain reaction had started, and Hano and Cazen had to evacuate, immediately.

As they rushed out of the Mansion, Cazen's fallibility had once again been proven as the explosion wasn't nearly as powerful as he had predicted. Though it blew out the entire back-wall of the room where the alchemical set had been. And from there, Cazen remember nothing more until he awoke at the Temple of Helm to see Hano's bloodied, soot-tainted, dirty form looking over him.

They had made it out alive. Cazen couldn't help but take a quiet moment to pray to Tymora for the souls of all those Cartel members he and Hano had killed. All of them had parents, somewhere, that loved them. Some of them probably had other family: Wives? Children? Who knows? Sure, they were all murderous bastards, but more then one of them was probably sending their ill-gotten gains to support a family.

He knew some of those who had lost their support would just make the same mistake of joining the Cartel for the money and security, as soon as they had chosen a new leader (or possibly resurrected Kurz, though he didn't want to consider that the murderer of Tayien would escape her fate). However, he knew others would show up at the Triad, seeking a hand-out, or at least a helpful hand.

For that reason, and for the assistance of Hano, Cazen had taken all the swag he'd gathered from the adventure, hocked it at Shifty's, and donated the proceeds to Hano, who he trusted to ensure it's safe delivery to the coffers of the Triad. With all the excitement behind him, he left for a well-deserved (and hopefully peaceful) repose. Cazen felt the closure he sought moreso from this deed then the actual felling of Kurz.

"Tayien, I'm sorry." he whispered, before he drifted off to sleep.

[Lollercide]

...

"Hano! That's enough!"

Cazen's words haunted the paladin in his slumber, dreaming of the many failures that had came at his own hand. The two villages Colibrus had burned for Hano's intrusion.

Odius, the benevolent dragon, who had fallen at Hano's side. While his death was noble, Hano could not help but to feel a lingering guilt as if he had sinned for being so weak that day.

Xithis, who came into posession of Genum's Cube after his minion pried it from Hano's cold hands. Tamryn was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with his army, to beat them all with her own might ... If only Hano would have been strong enough to hold onto a box during it all.

His father's sword ... cursed, stained with the blood of a dozen innocents and never to be used again. He should have put an end to Samantha long before that had happened

Krinda's new born child, who he failed to protect as the Banites kidnapped her ... She's gone now. Krinda of Ilmater, and her child. They're both probably with Neradnal now.

Oh, how cruel Dendar was to the paladin that night. He couldn't bear it, jolting from his sleep in a cold sweat while panting frantically. He had to be sure -- Quickly bringing his hand over to his side, feeling the figure of Tamryn covered in a thin sheet, just to be sure that she was there. That she was alive, and peacefully sleeping.

Now he remembered one of his biggest failures. How he begged and cried for Tamryn to flee while standing there in Sundren's Military Ward. How he prayed that The True would have intervened, would have stopped them, would have stopped Alyrian.

He remembers the long and cold walk from the crossroads with Tamryn's broken body in his arms. He remembered how he charged into the Necropolis and extracted justice, vengeance, retribution ... whatever you would have called it. He murdered the Blackguard Omnigalas.

... Never to carry a child, because he couldn't convince her to flee, because he couldn't hold a strong enough blade to defend her.

And now he could no longer walk into his Temple, what he considered a home, and meet eye-to-eye with his supposed brothers and sisters. The two elves were even bold enough to blame Hano of Cirion, Yashia, and Cybil's doings, to state his fate and say he must fix it ... as well as his fate to stand against Colibrus. What in the Nine Hells did they know about his fate, anyway?

What the hell has he done for them to believe this, anyway ...? He could, and will accept the blame, but ...

... Was he truly someone that his own Brothers and Sisters should be afraid of? So much that they refuse to speak with him, or even meet him in the eyes when they speak?

...

Hano sits up in bed, rubbing his palms against is face, effectively smearing sweat across it as he mutters, "Gods ... when the hell did I become so prone to angst?"

Hano pulls himself up further, slipping away from Tamryn just enough so he can rest his back against the headboard. "I don't have, nor do I deserve, any time to slow down and hate myself. If it was done by my hands and my weakness, then I swear, I'll see it undone and atoned for ... even when this light is not my own ... even when my strength is drawn from the blue-eyed and pale skinned woman beside me, My Love, and it is the Loyal Fury who guides me."

Drawing Tamryn's head into his lap, he drapes his arms around her, lowering his head while closing his eyes. The weary paladin traces his fingers down the chain around her neck, finding the ring between her breasts as he clutches onto the silver wedding band.

With his last moments before slipping back into sleep, he confides, "... I will atone, Lionheart. Know these words as truth to the ascension. The wicked will fall, and we will guard the innocent, by your and my blood."