Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 1

Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 1
File:Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 1 (lorebook).png Hint: Found through Durstin Tallow
Category:	Misc
Area:	Serbule Hills
Visibility:	Ghosted Until Found

Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 1 is a Lorebook found through a quest given by Durstin Tallow in Serbule Hills.

Content

by Garauna, daughter of Umaran

Leeka stomped angrily through the swamp, the legendary blade Heartseeker slung carelessly behind her back. She was really tired of Heartseeker's bullshit.

Especially since the sword was why she was here, in the swamps of Untanigar, in the remotest regions of the Crone Hegemony. Somewhere in this swamp were the Blade Trials of Melkar. Apparently.

"I tell you, you orcs are more like goblins than you want to admit," came a raspy voice from her back. Heartseeker sounded like the orc elders Leeka'd known growing up, their voices ruined from decades of smoking raw gur-horta. But the elders had been wise. They chose their words carefully. "You think you're big important races. But you're both so shitty!"

"Shut up, sword."

"You don't see elves living in this fucking swamp, do ya? This is goblin territory. And swamp-orc territory. You live in the shitholes of the world because you've been run out of everywhere else. You're like a novice swordsman who decides after one lesson that he's a master, and starts challenging experts to duels. And no surprise, you lose. But even though you keep getting beat down, you just keep challenging people to duels! You orcs think you're these noble savage, worthy of respect, but you're not even master swordsmen, let alone--"

Leeka drew the sword in a fraction of a second and held it in front of her face. "I AM a master swordsman!" She tried to keep her fury from boiling over, but it was escaping into her voice. "And you are an instrument. Nothing more. And if you don't shut up, I will hurl you into this swamp. You will become some swamp-goblin's novelty talking vegetable chopper for the next hundred years! Is that your wish, sword?"

She held the blade in front of her, waiting for a response. She shook it a bit. When it said nothing, she sighed and sheathed it onto her back.

"I didn't mean YOU weren't a master swordsman," said the sword, softly, a moment later. "It was a metaphor. That's exactly what I'm saying! You orcs can't tell nuance from a punch to the face! If you -- wait WAIT WAIT!" Leeka had drawn the blade again and was winding up to hurl Heartseeker. "Wait! Look, we're almost there. That's the trial. Look! No, look where I'm pointing!" The blade adjusted itself in her hand to tilt a few degrees to the right.

In the distance was a hill shrouded in misty swamp vapors, and embedded in that hill was a huge stone door.

It took another half hour to reach the door, plus a fifteen minute argument wherein Leeka shoved Heartseeker into a rotten tree until it apologized. When she finally approached the massive stone entryway, it was dusk.

Leeka stared at the door for a minute, hands on hips, considering it. It was huge, almost twice as tall as her, and made of old granite slabs, but it looked like it opened easily. A square stone button was visible to one side -- a sign of dwarven engineering. No vines or fungus covered the button and the huge stone hinges were miraculously free of growth. In fact, the whole area was very well maintained. Someone came here often. Very often, probably, or it would have goblin squatters living in it. And if there were goblins, she would have met the advance guards by now. Still, something else could be squatting, perhaps. After a minute of considering, Leeka kicked the button with her foot, then dodged out of the way of any sudden projectiles.

The door slowly scraped open with a deafening noise. No arrows shot out. Inside was a wide stone hallway, perhaps twenty feet across, and not far up ahead, the hall abruptly turned left. There were no other visible features aside from a second stone switch on the inside, presumably to reopen the door.

As soon as the door finished sliding out of the way it immediately began sliding closed. Leeka made no motion to enter, just stood and studied. When the door had closed, she turned and went to make camp a few hundred feet away."