ocht

The monk was pleased on this fine day. The face of his god shone down on
him from above as he walked through the gates of Hochoch. Since he left
the monastery he had traveled for a few weeks by foot to get here. This
city was the perfect spot for him to put into practice the skills his
god had granted him.

As the late winter wind whipped by him, the monk tightened his white
cloak to keep himself warm. The monk approached on of the guards at the
gatehouse. The guard was dressed for war, wearing chain mail and a
religious symbol with the seven bolts of Heironeous emblazoned on it.
"Telchur blows strongly today, doesn't he friend." Spoke the monk in a
friendly tone. "He does indeed. His last gasps before he passes on the
weather to his daughter. So how can Hochoch help Pelor today?" Asked the
guard. "I am looking for shelter for a few days. I hear that there is a
need for Pelor's services in this town. Can you please direct me to an
inn. Not too expensive though, my funds are sorely lacking and I will
have to rely on charity in exchange for my services." "Of course. Just
follow this road and the inn will be on your left. It is called the
Fiery Maiden. Many mercenaries reside their and will surely have need of
your special talents."

The monk walked down the cobbled street, quickly drawing attention from
the inhabitant of the city. The monk was a striking figure in comparison
to the residence of Hochoch. Although he wore no weapons, a strange
enough occurrence in this town, his uniqueness was in his physical
appearance. He was close to 6 feet tall and broad of girth. He had a
handsome and strong face, but with features softened by kindness. His
long strides and mannerism denoted a man of strength and in prime
health. He walked proudly through the streets of the city with a holy
symbol of Pelor swaying back and forth on a gold chain around his neck.
When he neared the Fiery Maiden, he made a silent prayer to his god and
walked through the entryway.

The inside of the inn was dark and smoky. There was grumbling and
muttered curses as the patrons shrunk back from the light of the sun and
the brisk wind which entered with the monk. After the door was closed
and the eyes of the patrons re-adjusted to the gloom, the room grew
silent once the nature of the monk was known. The soldiers and
mercenaries in the inn had seen followers of Pelor before, but never in
these kinds of surroundings. The monk was oblivious to the stares thrown
his way. The monk walked up to the main bar. "Good innkeeper, I require
a room for a few days. I do not have much money, but I am strong and for
a short time I can do some chores around the inn to earn my keep. Once I
have earned enough money by doing Pelor's work I will repay you."
Promised the monk.

The innkeeper looked at the monk suspiciously. Priests of different gods
had routinely come into his inn and tried to convert his patrons. It was
always bad for business having a meddlesome priest accosting his paying
customers. "Sorry Father, we're all full. And I have all the help I
need." Responded the innkeeper. "I understand good innkeeper." The monk
turned to leave the inn. "Wait one moment priest." Shouted one of the
mercenaries. "I have a deal for you." The monk paused and turned to the
mercenary. "What deal is that? Before you state your terms, I must
inform you that I am not a priest but a monk. As such, I am forbidden to
perform many of the ceremonies associated with Pelor, including giving
mass." "Bah, I don't care for religious ceremonies much. The deal is
that I'll pay for your room and food for a month if you heal my arm." As
the mercenary spoke these words he held up the stump of his arm. The arm
had been removed at the elbow and then seared with fire to stop the
blood loss. "That I can try to do. Unfortunately, I cannot accept
payment in exchange for the gifts of Pelor. Allow me to try and heal
your arm and if Pelor finds you worthy of his gift your arm will become
whole." As he spoke these words the monk walked over to injured
mercenary and placed his hands on the stump. The monk started chanting
prayers to Pelor. After 10 minutes of praying, the monk silently
withdrew his hands from the stump. As he did so, the stump began to
elongate and gave off a bright yellow glow. A few moments later the
mercenaries arm was whole once again.

The mercenary looked at his arm with obvious happiness on his face. The
monk smiled as well, the mercenary's look of pleasure and the joy of
healing gave meaning to the monk's life. The monk thanked Pelor once
again for blessing him with the ability to heal. The mercenary took his
eyes off his arm long enough to ask the monk a question. "So, you won't
accept payment for this service you have given me?" asked the mercenary.
"No, I cannot sully the gift of Pelor by accepting personal gains."
Responded the monk. "Well in that case, consider this a charitable
donation to Pelor. These funds are to be used to house and feed the
followers of Pelor so that they may further his goals of healing." And
with these words, the mercenary tossed the monk a bag of coins.

keith davies

If the posted text was typical of the writing, I rather hope not.


Keith
--
Keith Davies "Trying to sway him from his current kook-
keith.davies@kjdavies.org rant with facts is like trying to create
keith.davies@gmail.com a vacuum in a room by pushing the air
http://www.kjdavies.org/ out with your hands." -- Matt Frisch

jimsorenson

I realize that you are asking where this came from, but surely you have
some insight. Where did you stumble upon it? Was it emailed to you?
Website? Scanned in?

JimS

silveraxe

I'm fairly certain that this is supposed to be a "subtle" plug.
It's his own site and he's trying to get people to google for it,
because just saying "go to www.herearemystories.com to read my stories"
has stopped working long ago.

See:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.g...bce41673aa f9

Silveraxe.

arivne

It looks like it originally came from a web page that no longer exists:

http://www.canonfire.com/htmlnew//mo...rticle&sid=189

Google has a cached version:

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:q...%26sid%3 D189

The author is given as "Richard Di Ioia".


Arivne

alordofchaos

Thank goodness!