#oathkeeping

Challenge #03491-I203: Audience With the Thrice Sworn King

"I'm not a King."

--But you're wearing a crown...---

"I'm a servant.

---I don't understand....----

He goes to the window and points to the cities and lands stretching far and wide. "I serve them. They are MY Kings and Queens."

The thief nods in confusion as they are not being punished, but being offered more funds to help feed their family. -- The New Guy

What are kings? Conquerers and bullies. Greedy guzzling gourmands with cloth-of-gold over their guts. Gilded shoes. Gilded buttons. Gilded coaches. Golden plates and golden forks.

Sneering down at people up to their knees in mud and wearing only rags.

I hate them. They only know how to make war and how to make those already suffering to suffer all the more. This new one is no different to all the others. The fact that he's here is a mistake. I'm about to end someone's dynasty. I'm about to collapse their grand empire or whatever they're calling it.

You're giving testimony in court, or maybe you're assuming public office.

In both cases, it's customary to swear on a holy object.

Challenge #04397-L013: Let Me Help

Why are you so desperate to get rid of your magic?

"All I ever do is hurt those I love most."

Have you ever thought to find a teacher?

"Who'd teach a useless waste of life like me?"

Alright... lesson one... you're not a useless waste of life. -- Anon Guest

To make the world a better place was a bigger job than Wraithbind thought. The first thought to tackle was, Who am I making the world better for?

A world made better for Elves was not better for any intelligent creature that was not an Elf. A world made better for dragons wouldn't have Elves in it at all, never mind any of the other beings emerging into the knowledge of the world.

A better world was one in which all intelligent creatures had an equal chance for choices in their life. That would take longer than one Elf's lifespan, and a very, very open mind.

Such as sympathy for a Hellkin who wanted the magic taken out of their bones. They were willing to be Wraithbind's servant for the rest of their life. What hit Wraithbind in hir heart was the final statement, "And if I have a soul, I swear it to you." They had to have a soul, or they wouldn't be suffering on behalf of all those they loved.

Challenge #03846-J194: Sharp Choice

A being tries to tempt Wraithvine with a special wish, a test. Their ultimate dream would come true. But is the cost of an innocent soul worth it? -- Anon Guest

Immortals are truly hard to tempt, especially if they've been at it long enough. The wants of mortality fade away as time renders them irrelevant.

Mortals die. Oceans rise. Empires fall. Change occurs and little can stop it. Wants fade away as beauty can be found anywhere, friendship is temporary, and the immortal learns to suffice with the most basic of accommodations.

A few kings throwing one in the oubliette a few times will do that to one. However, Lord Darkbolt of Myrandor believed he had something that might grab an immortal's attention.

Challenge #03206-H297: The One That Matters

An aged, wizened man. He wishes he could follow his wife, and his kids, and his grandkids into the great beyond. But, when he was young, and on guard duty, he had fallen asleep at his post, failing to raise the alarm when invaders got inside, and a thousand within the city perished as a result. Now, his gods won't let him die, until he has saved one thousand lives. One life for each that had been lost. Marking his arms and hands with stripes, one stripe for each life. There were still almost a hundred to go. -- Anon Guest

Be careful when you make a Sacred Oath. They have repercussions, they have consequences. Some, like the oath embedded in a white obelisk in Whitekeep, worm their way into the oath-taker's brain and will not allow themselves to be broken. Others, like an oath on the heart of a god, allow the oath-taker to persist so they can uphold it. One has come with its own punishment.

Call him Marcus. He has had many names throughout the centuries. Once in his youth, he took an oath to preserve lives and defend them with his own. It was his bad luck that he took that oath in ready witness of his gods.

He made a mistake. He fell asleep on a night when bandits came. One thousand died, and the gods demanded restitution.

Challenge #03025-H102: Illegal Tender

There is bad way to win and there is a good way to lose; what’s interesting while also being troubling is that it’s not always clear which is which. A flipped coin doesn’t always land on head or tail, sometimes it may never lands at all -- grimsley

Kosh hadn't expected to find a slice of home in the hoard. Precisely, an octagonal slice of gemstone engraved with the stylised castle chess piece that was Whitekeep's sigil. It was not olivine, it was emerald. Illegal, but only if a Baron sold it off as a gemstone rather than a coin worth one hundred gold. Seeing it, holding it, watching the light glint off its minting marks, made him so homesick it rocked him.

It was the only reason why he didn't notice the enemy catching up with them. He did notice the blade at his neck and said, "Please, I do that every morning. You're not as threatening as you think." He stood, turned, and noticed that there were two of them for each of them. "Wunderbar."

"Drop it, Tief," said their leader. Some asshole in fancy, shiny armour. Full plate and overloaded with embellishments. "That's our booty you have your filthy hands on."