Chronicles of an
Age of Darkness
Tales of Sung
(Click on Links were Applicable)
Kheldar the Equally Impressive
Zaragar the Pornographer
Zaragar lived on the edge of a city in the Kingdom of Sung, where bodybuilders exercised down the road somewhat. Bodybuilders, in the desolate north of the city, on a big square ground, paved with bricks. They lifted weights, did squats and push-ups, and various other programs, and looked massive. This was good for Zaragar. Women often hung around, and sought the tender charms of the bodybuilders night activity, for they were often dogs for want of a better word. Zaragar would visit them throughout the week, take his stool and his easel, and sit himself down early in the day, watch the bodybuilders, and when a suitable enough slut came round, get a firm picture of them in his head, and begin his erotic masterpiece for the week. The oafs would occasionally inspect his work, and they were often his best customers, but it was the seedy denizens of the city, of which numerous counts had put them at approximately the actual population of the city, which, at quiet moments of the day, would visit his ramshackle home, inspect the work, assess its pleasurable gain for their dull existences, and fork over the necessary coinage for the fresh wanking material. He made his living in this manner. However, his work was threatened one afternoon when 'Lady Jane' of the Watchtower emanated forth from her establishment, came to his painting place, and looked at the work at hand.
'How much?' she asked.
'This one is likely 50 coppers or so,' replied Zaragar.
'I wish to make this an example of the barbaric lusts of this city, and send it to the Watchtower congregations abroad, so they may know the sad state of affairs of morality in Sung.'
Zaragar looked her over. 'Watchtower?'
The woman nodded in response.
'While I invite admirers of my work,' stated Zaragar. 'I must say Sung has a way about it which is tolerant of this kind of activity. It is not to be questioned. The lust of the land is to be accepted, and those who would oppose the base instincts of men and women need to rethink their morals and scientifical understandings.'
'Bah,' replied the woman. 'The Grand Guardian maintains that such things are unbecoming Olo Malan society. We can do better,' but she was looking at the work as Zaragar continued painting. 'You seem to exaggerate the breasts,' she said. 'Women's breasts surely do not get so large.'
'My dear, in my time I have seen watermelons shag these dimwits. It is entirely accurate enough I assure you.'
'So you say,' she replied, examining the work.
'Why do you want to change us Watchtower?' said Zaragar, continuing his work, watching the bodybuilders. 'We like it this way. Surely your program should be to attract your own kind and form your social elite circle, but conversion is unnecessary. People don't want to change that much.'
'By the grace of the Grand Guardian, they do not know the cleanliness of a more holy lifestyle.'
'Tis the word bandied about these days by your kind,' said Zaragar. He looked at the woman. 'Seriously, I doubt this is how all that is operates. There is a Nexus or something which controls things, so I was taught in younger years. The Grand Guardian is merely a stooge of the Nexus. Of this I am sure.'
'So you say,' she replied. 'People use this material for illicit pleasures. Does that not bother you?'
'That is the whole point,' replied Zaragar.
'I see,' she said, examining the work. 'Fine. You have your way of life, and I see your point. Now sell me the damn work, and deliver it to my address on completion, and I shall announce to the congregation the sad state of Sung affairs.'
'As you wish,' sighed Zaragar. And thus a deal was done. After the work was delivered by a courier, Zaragar received a note from the lady. It read: 'Upon consideration, I shall respect your own feelings of Sung Society, and not use your work to promote an agenda you may not agree with. But I'll burn the work to show what I think of it.'
And Zaragar sighed. Nobody appreciated art any more.
The End
Ronio the Restler
Ronio lived on the edge of D'Waith in the Kingdom of Sung in East Ravlish. He lived in a corporate block of apartments owned by a rich Sung businessman, who rented the apartments to bodybuilders, restlers, and similar ilk. The men and few woman of this corporate block, who sometimes did work for the rich businessman to compensate him for rental requirements, including the breaking of knees, fingers and other body parts of various hostile competitors in the world of Sung Finances, worked out in a particular large patch of ground which was owned by the businessman who had set it out for them to do their workouts and general training. Ronio wrestled, and there was a patch in the large setting where he and other wrestlers got together throughout the week to wrestle. Ronio was good at it. He hadn't broken any kneecaps yet, as he had other employment to pay his rentals, but the tales he heard – shivering. Ronio was a good old fashioned loverboy, like most of the restlers and bodybuilders, gigolo's who up market ladies of Sung would visit to embellish their wicked fantasies. These days though, with religion on the upswing, morality rebukes were common. This did not deter the traditional profession from making a quid or two though. Ronio had Venereal Diseases. Several. Par for the course in his line of work. Coccilitis was particularly embarassing, and occasionally he would visit a medicine man to get a balm for his aching phallus. It usually worked.
One particular afternoon an elderly lady came to employ his services. She paid the hefty sum, and he followed her back to her abode. In the bed she wispered. 'I like my earl lobes nibbled.' He nibbled her ear lobes. 'I like sweet and dirty words whispered.' He talked delicately and naughtily into the ears he had just liked. Finally, the lady made a peculiar request. 'I like a cucumber shoved up my passage and eaten out while I watch.' That one was new to Ronio. Still he complied. Later, she showered kissed on him, and he burped. The cucumber seemed a bit strange in his taste.
Talking with the medicine man later that week, he made it clear, in the end, that he was prepared to die of any Venereal Disease known or unknown to man. But food poisoning from a cucumber shoved up an old hags twat. That was not how he wanted to go out. The medicine man complied and provided him a cure.
Ronio, thereafter, was more cautious with such requests. You could look, you could touch, but eating out down below. Just make sure the cucumbers were fresh next time, a motto he was not going to forget.
The End
Soledad the Apprentice Undertaker
(Note: Soledad played by Jenna Ortega in Potential Video)
Soledad was gypsy blood. Ravlish gypsy. Her mother maintained she came from a long line of harlots who could never really settle. Feet always in the air – literally. But Soledad had learned in the lesson of her blood to be more like her father, quite grounded in nature. She worked in D'Waith in Sung, as a Undertaker Apprentice to her father, Julio. Her mother was now deceased, and knowing no other family details, at least none that Julio was forthcoming on, Soledad needed to make her way in the world. So she followed the family business like many members of Olo Malan community, beset with a world caught up with passion and pain, generally compensated their dodgy lifestyle with. To settle into a reality which was not always that hospitable, especially in a dark age of a world. Soledad grasped the darkness of the times quite naturally. She dealt with dead bodies as a daily occurrence. She'd heard all the classics by now. Cancer of the Liver. Cardiac Arrest. Coccolitis of the Genitals. That she feared. Cock Rot did not seem that pleasant, and from what she'd heard women took it pretty bad in this respect also. Still, despite seeing stiffs in all sorts of shapes and sizes when preparing their coffins and their funeral details, she did not get caught up in the morbidity of it all to the extent she lost focus on doing a first rate job. But D'Waith standards anyway.
'I need a box,' said Kheldar.
Soledad looked at the bodybuilder. 'You've knocked someone off, have you?' She chuckled a little after saying this.
'Very funny. Soledad isn't it? Didn't we study in school together?'
'I kind of forget,' she replied. She scratched her chin, and looked at Kheldar's physique. The boy had grown into a man indeed.
'Where do you want to put your stiff?' asked Soledad.
Kheldar looked at her with eyebrow raised.
'I mean, where do you want it buried. We have a few options. Most people pay for the standard D'Waith Cemetery option. Some like a Mausoleum. We get some requests for burial at sea and even cremations.'
'Standard cemetery option. Deceased grandmother,' said Kheldar.
'I see,' replied Soledad. She picked up a jar, which had coins in it, and rattled it in front of Kehldar, while looking at the notes in front of her. He dropped in some coins, and then she looked at the bottle.
'Is that all you can afford? It's not very much.'
'Your paid by the council, though, right? We only give donations of what we can afford.'
'Half our income is donations to get by,' replied Soledad.
'Inflation, huh? What you gonna do,' replied Kheldar.
Soledad looked at the bodybuilder. 'Indeed,' she replied. 'Give me the contact details, and we'll be there this afternoon.'
Kheldar provided the address, and Soledad wrote down the notes, and smiled as Kheldar left. Soon she would find her dad, who was probably at the cemetery at the moment, and they'd go off and deal with the new dead body. Another busy day, really. Another busy life. Another death. Hey, still she had bills to pay. And while she was actually quite attractive, they weren't asking for her just yet. Not just yet anyway.
The End
Sung's Wrestling Pit
'Come on Ronio,' said Soledad. 'You don't need to fear the Slobagoth.'
'It's practically crippled men stronger than me,' replied Ronio the Wrestler, on the side of 'The Pit' in a murky quarter of Sung were lowlive denizens resided. The Pit was a wrestling centre, were the Slobagoth, a half ape, half man, abomination ruled the roost.
'Whatever woman mated with that beasts father was more than a little crude,' said Ronio, as the Slobagoth entered the arena and the crowd started cheering.
'It was apparently done on a lost bet,' said Kheldar. 'The mother was with a questing party in some dismal wastelands, and a wager on certain activities was lost, and she had to mate with a big beast at the request of amused villagers. She did it. She felt disgusted afterwards. When she became pregnant, she assumed it was to one of her fellow questers, as she was known to bed a few of them, but that hairy monstrosity came out.'
'You can take it,' encouraged Soledad, wiping down Ronio's sweat with a towel.
'I need the cash pretty bad, but I fear for my life,' said Ronio.
'Don't be pathetic. Are you man or monkey,' said Kheldar.
'Very funny,' replied Ronio.
The Slobagoth had been lifting his hands in reaction to the cheering, and wandered around the pit, but was now in front of Ronio and his friends, motioning for the wrestler to come and fight him.
'Here goes,' said Ronio, standing, and flexing his muscles.
He entered the ring, and they started circling each other. The Slobagoth made a charge, and Ronio dodged it, and hit him in the back of the neck. The crowd cheered at that regardless. The Slobagoth turned, and growled at Ronio. It rushed forward, and grabbed him, and started squeezing him.
'Shit a brick,' yelled Ronio.
'He's in deep shit,' said Kheldar.
'No kidding,' replied Soledad.
Ronio lifted his hands, and whacked both hands simultaneously on the Slobagoth's neck, who recoiled, and backed away, grabbing his neck and rubbing it. It growled again.
'Cockles,' yelled Kheldar.
Ronio glared at him, but decided what the hell. When the Slobagoth rushed him again, he dropped to the ground, and kicked upwards between the Slobagoth's legs. He connected, as the beast yelled out a loud whelp. Ronio took his chance, and jumped on the back of the creature, and soon had him pinned, gripping his arm. The creature was still whelping, but bashed the ground indicating surrender. The crowd was stunned, but the pitmaster came forward, grabbed Ronio's arm and lifted it up. 'Our new champion.'
Later Ronio was being wiped down by Soledad.
'My champion,' she said. 'I knew you could do it.'
'Smooth moves,' said Kheldar.
'And now I can pay my bills. If I could only get the smell of Slobagoth's bad breath out of my mind.'
And the others laughed at that.
The End
Soledad's Generosity
Soledad looked at the soup.
'It needs salt,' said her father.
'They're salty scoundrels as well,' replied Soledad, adding a few pinches of salt. She brought the soup off the heat, let it simmer a few minutes, and started filling some flasks with the soup.
'I don't know why you do this. They don't pay you,' said her father.
'Call it charity,' replied Soledad.
'A strange concept of the watermelon mostly foreign to our society,' replied her father. 'Your mother would approve though.'
Soledad finished filling the flasks, and with some bread rolls with butter, she put them in her basket and went on her merry way. She came soon enough to the outskirts of D'Waith, the Stonemasons Quarry, and came into the main yard, gazing over at the work men. Ronio, Kheldar and Zardan were glistening in the heat of the day, sweating, and looking ever so manly. Soledad just gawked at them. She liked all 3 of the heroes, but particularly Ronio. To him she would offer her heart in time. The foreman came soon enough and indicated the day was done, and the three of them claimed their day's pay, and wandered out of the quarry. Soledad waved to the three of them.
'We'll sit there, on the rocks again,' said Soledad.
Ronio smiled at Soledad, and Kheldar and Zardan hooked into the bread rolls and soup with zeal.
'We can pay for our own meals,' said Zaradan with bread in his mouth.
'Yes, but a woman's touch is what every working man needs.'
'You can only claim one of us,' said Kheldar.
'I know,' said Soledad, looking intently at Ronio as he ate his roll and sipped on his soup. 'How is the work going?'
'The highway from D'Waith to Keep is being upgraded with paved stones. They are getting a lot of the stone from this quarry. It's heavy work,' said Zardan.
'The pay is good,' said Kheldar. 'And it will last a lifetime. It will take a century or two to complete the job, so we have good work till old age.'
'If we can stay fit enough,' said Ronio.
'I'm sure you can,' said Soledad, looking at her hero.
'Uh, yeh,' said Ronio, looking at Soledad.
Soon enough they were finished their meals.
'We work again tomorrow,' said Kheldar.
'Every second day I'll come,' said Soledad. 'Father needs me at my job also. But I can assist you guys regularly enough. I don't mind doing it.'
'May the gods of Olo Malan give you favour,' said Zardan.
Soledad smiled.
They finished, and stood and stretched, and as they made their way off to their homes, Soledad fell in with Ronio. 'You might need a permanent helper one day, I guess. A wife I suppose.'
Ronio grinned. 'Every man needs a woman.'
'I hope so,' finished Soledad.
Soon she departed, and went her separate way, and as she made her way home she hummed, and fantasized about being the wife of Ronio the Wrestler. A far cry from the daughter of an undertaker.
The End
The World Ring
'It's the web of the world. And we want to control it,' said Kalphor the Wizard.
'The Partnership Banks wants to get rich have global access,' said Ronio.
'We presume it's a globe. Like the moon above us. There is speculation Olo Malan goes on forever, but where does the sun go when it sets? I assume it's globular. A flat Olo Malan boggles the imagination. But, yes. Rich, wealthy, but with the power to bring the vision of the confederation of wizards to society when we control the web of the world. Your quest is of service to ensure we do as such. We wish to employ your muscular friends, and Crognathy and co to ensure we gain control of a nearby web door. We seek to build a new keep. Like your own magnificent keep. But harboured and steeped in the power of wizards and warriors in our service, to oppose Rovac threats.'
'Father told me legends of the Rovac growing up,' said Soledad. Elkor Alish. Morgan Hearst. Men beset with brave and bold deeds.'
'Men we need to constrain from gaining the power which should be rightfully ours,' said Kalphor. 'Barbarians are too thick to understand how a global society works, present company excluded of course. It would be a disaster if the warriors of this world gained complete control of the world ring. We can not let that come to be. We need you, Ronio, to gather the brute labour of these pavers of the highway, and train them also to defend a keep to be built to control one of the doors. It is a long term employment opportunity. I have tested you in these Argan quests, and you have proved your merit. I wish to use you Ronio – to change the world.'
'We're in,' said Soledad.
'I can speak for myself wife of mine,' said Ronio. 'We're in funny guy.'
'Excellent Kalphor. Let us retire to the upper room of this tavern and go through the details. We shall begin soon enough.'
The morning came, and Soledad and Ronio were in front of the tavern in D'Waith, sipping on juice from the tavern.
'We're going to be rich,' said Ronio.
'It's labour, and labour is never fun, and you will get opposition. But I know your tough. I just worry that Rovac could be tougher.'
'Then we recruit well,' said Ronio.
They sipped on their juice, and breathed the morning air, as sunlight filled the sky, and two happy Sung Citizens were about their destiny.
The End
The Rovac Battle on the Isle of the World Ring
The Wyvern on the mountain top overseeing the camp of the Rovac Warriors let out a howl. It echoed through the night sky.
'Wyvverns are not unknown in these parts, but they will be concerned,' said Kalphor.
Ronio, in bright armour, looked over the men encamped in the valley. 'We strike at first light. Presumably they know we are here.'
'They will have spies who are aware of our presence. They likely spotted the approaching ships. They will be well prepared.'
'Our siege equipment is sound,' said Ronio.
'As sound as it can be. With wizard diagrams,' said Kheldar.
'Bah,' said Zardan. 'We barge through their compound door, and bring the fight to them. They are strong, but we have half a legion of men with grudges against Rovac, and well enough paid to bring the fight to them, despite the cost of what will be many lives.'
Ronio came in from the cold night, and sat with Soledad in their tent. 'I am never glad about your wandering ways, Soledad. But you have quested with me from the start. I can not be surprised you will be with me at this hour.'
Soledad stood and took her dress and wiped some grot off Ronios breastplate. 'You will be brave in the morning. Do not fear the Rovac. Kheldar has been a good instructor, and the men are fresh and ready for battle. The Rovan maybe not so.'
'So we hope,' said Ronio.
They slept, and Ronio dreamed of battle and blood and slain men, but victory. The morning came, and they started tugging the siegeworks and battering ram with horses from the ships they came on towards the Rovac camp. It took a few hours but by midday they had surrounded the Rovac encampment on the Isle of the World Ring.
'Begin battle,' saluted Ronio, and his men began the siege. The battering ram was brought into place, and the men were shielded by covers of wood and steel, and started hammering at the gate. Siege towers pushed forward, being harrassed by arrows from Rovac bowmen, and both sides started suffering casualties, but Ronio's army clearly had the numbers. The siege towers gained the walls, and battles started taking place on the upper walls of the encampment. In the end it proved a bloody and bitter day. The Rovac surrendered near sunset, down to their last men, and they were escorted to the ships, taken prisoner, to be set free on the isle of Sung to return to their armies in Chi Ash Lan and elsewhere. They were victorious. Kheldar had been struck with the sword on his arm, and a deep gash had been gained. It had been bandaged, and he felt pain. He was sick for the next few weeks. Soon enough emissaries of Hostaja Sken Pitilkin soon showed, and the Confederation of Wizards made themselves known. Kalphor requested Ronio now get the men to begin the process of quarrying stone on the isle to build their keep.
'We do not wish the warriors to regain this,' said Kalphor. 'It came at a heavy cost to us, so we must be much more of a thing to meddle with than what Morgan's army provided. No doubt they'll want it back. This is the battle we face, the battle of many years of struggle. But we will continue to pay you well Lord Ronio.'
Ronio had a private lodge built for himself and Soledad was soon pregnant. She gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, and they were names Macron the boy and Soleda the Girl. Ronio was proud, and Macron would learn wrestling before he could walk in Ronio's ambitions, but Soledad scolded him for such pride. Thus, as the years passed, the keep came to be built, and it was garrisoned by much of the army, and more still which the wizards confederation acquired for their service. But the world turned, and the age of darkness went on, and new plans were made by wizards and warriors in the world of Olo Malan.
The End
Soleda and Buckhenry's Romance
Ronio and Soledads twin children Macron the boy and Soleda the girl spent many years in employ of Kalphor the wizard and the confederation of wizards in their teens as spies in Penvash. Soleda ran into Buckhenry, pupil of the feared Rovac Warrior Morgan Hearst, the sworn warrior adversaries of the confederation of wizards. They were the enemy. Not to be trusted. But they were spies and, by necessity, in contact with their opponents from time to time. The problem for Soleda is that she fell for Buckhenry and his good looks, which resulted in endless cautions from her brother Macron about getting to close to the enemy. Buckhenry took her around the old city of Penvash on various trips and was besotted with her and her good Sung looks.
'We are wary of East Ravlish and the powers in Chi Ash Lan which oppose us from the confederation,' Buckhenry shared with her. 'We had a major fortress on an Isle of Ravlish which fell a long time ago. Nay, we shall battle for that isle again, for the Rovac are never defeated, but it surprises me ye are from such a place.'
'Our parents left Sung to find fortune in Penvash and we took up as travelling minstrels and harlequins,' said Soleda. 'I am more talented than my brother in this respect, but the gift of music is more his passion.'
'As you have told me on occasion, fair maiden,' replied Buckhenry.
They romanced and Soleda's heart was captivated but, alas, it could not be. He was the enemy, and as they reached their 19th year, Macron reminded her that their business was mostly done in Penvash and they would need to return home soon. Soleda's heart was broken, as she had fallen in love with Buckhenry, and when she left a note in his castle bedroom she felt she had betrayed a confidence. But she was spy – he was the enemy – what else could she do? They travelled home that year, over the Sunlight Sea and back to Sung, and Soleda's mood was sombre, but not depression. Macron pitied her. He knew the girl had fallen for the young Rovac, against his stern advice, but the heart went were it would go, no matter the situation. Her mother, Soledad, consoled her in her early 20s, and said love may find a way one day, despite the whole world being against her. And Soleda kept that hope alive, as she draw artwork of her memories of Buckhenry, hoping against hope that she would one day yet again meet her handsome Rovac warrior and that love would find a way.
The End
