The Intervention of Legor
Author: unknown
The Intervention of Brut Legor in the Hamlet of Roughstone
Place/Gathering Discovered: Black and White , Chimeron Date: October 22, 1011 Transcribed by: Faelinn Shadowmoon A1. Brut Legor spoke with a steady voice and wielded his holy cudgel in the name of The Just God. A warrior by training and a priest by devotion, he traveled the lands of the realm with his single aim; to bring justice to those who were oppressed. 2. Brut Legor, in his travels, came upon the hamlet of Roughstone. Roughstone was a small place, and the men fed their kin by working long hours in the mines, pulling out blocks of marble to sell to the gentry in nearby cities. 3. Brut Legor observed how the people toiled without observance of days of rest, from before the rising of the sun until long after it set. 4. The men were not miserable, their spirits, not trodden. They knew that they were well rewarded for the effort they put in. Each block of marble fetched a fee that would put a year's food on the table for a family. 5. They were proud, industrious people that made their own fates. The Just God smiled on them for taking nothing they did not deserve and being thankful for what their efforts provided. B6. There was a magistrate who oversaw the law and labor of Roughstone. He was a jovial man whose pockets were full. It was through his mercantile dealings that the marble was sold and that gold flowed into the town. 7. The magistrate himself lived in the courthouse, a great stone building on top of a hill. There he lived in comfort, surrounded by silk and ivory and incense. 8. The magistrate never entered the mine, but earned his gold by sitting in judgment over matters of dispute and in determining the fair shares that belonged to each of the men who worked in the mine. 9. Brut Legor met the magistrate, and saw the lavish conditions in which he lived; through he had no calluses on his hands from wielding the pick, no scars on his arms from bracing the marble. Brut Legor inquired of the magistrate; what justified this opulence without toil. 10. The magistrate defended his importance; when men worked too slowly, or otherwise failed to toil with all of their heart and sinew, the whole of Roughstone suffered. Great was the burden of the magistrate to place the most suffering on the shoulders of those who most failed in their obligation to their work and to the town. 11. The magistrate claimed that he prayed to The Just God often, and that he was a vessel of His wisdom. C12. Brut Legor knew that those who claimed the wisdom of The Just God were too often agents of injustice in the world. Justice is not a wrap that one wears when weighing matters of gold in a room that smells of incense. 13. Justice is part of a good man's soul, he makes no pretense toward being a fount for The Just God. He does not wear Justice as a mantle, or raise it as a banner over the heads of others. 14. The work of The Just God is humble. 15. Brut Legor looked upon the inequity of the magistrate in the incensed room, and felt in his soul that there was need for him to intervene in Roughstone. D16. Brut Legor went amongst the working men of Roughstone and learned from them about the magistrate's justice. He spoke at length to an aged man who everyone called the old miner, one of the first citizens of Roughstone and a man held in very high esteem by all who labored there. 17. Brut Legor learned that each passing month saw the ebbing of income from the nearby cities. He learned that each month one hard laboring man was brought before the magistrate and denied his wages on some pretense of idling too greatly or laboring too slowly. 18. No one amongst the men of Roughstone agreed that any ever deserved to be denied their fair earnings. 19. They acted with great Justice toward one another in response to seeing their brethren go wanting. The old miner was unwilling to let any family go without, so by his urging the wages of all other workers were willfully split among those who had had their earnings denied. 20. In this way the men of Roughstone showed one another great kindness, and showed to Brut Legor the grace of The Just God within their souls; tempering a sense of self for a sense of what they know to be right. E21. Brut Legor went again to the magistrate of Roughstone wielding the information gained from the old miner. In civil tones and still with friendship in his voice, Brut Legor told the magistrate of the arrangements of the old miner. 22. He explained to the magistrate that the people of Roughstone provided for one another, and that they had, through the direction of the old miner, determined their own system of Justice by which they could care for one another and share equally in misfortune. 23. He beseeched the magistrate to learn from these stalwart men who had the true blessing of The Just God upon them. He asked the magistrate to no longer deprive one family of their wages for the sake of all the others. 24. Brut Legor, before he reached for anger, labored to explain to the magistrate the type of true Justice loved by The Just God, and give him new direction in how he sat in judgment in Roughstone. F25. The magistrate sat in deference to Brut Legor as he professed this new understanding of Justice. He nodded in agreement and stood tall as Brut Legor finished his speech. 26. With admiration in his voice, he grasped the wrist of Brut Legor and thanked him deeply for his tutelage and his patience. He resolved there, before The Just God, to speak at length to the old miner and to change the methods by which the workers of Roughstone came to be rewarded for their efforts. 27. Brut Legor, pleased that wisdom had settled well upon the shoulders of the magistrate, excused himself from the courthouse and left in search of his next quest in the name of The Just God. G28. The moons waxed and waned and Brut Legor went on to accomplish great deeds with cudgel in hand and love for The Just God in his heart. 29. After adventures manifold and a weariness from travel began to overtake him, Brut Legor realized he was near again to the hamlet of Roughstone and thought it an auspicious place to find some rest. 30. In arriving at Roughstone, Brut Legor was struck by the feeling that the spirit of the town had changed greatly. 31. He looked at the men, once cheerful laborers who knew their work had a purpose, and saw trodden souls with their heads bowed toward the ground. Brut Legor stopped some men who he recognized and inquired as to this sullen nature of the once proud Roughstone. 32. The eyes of the men were dull, but behind them, some spark yet remained. In seeing Brut Legor and the resounding will of The Just God within him, there was a stirring of strength he knew they still retained. 33. The men pleaded with him to go to the courthouse, for the source of their ills remained there. Upon asking to see the old miner, Brut Legor's gaze was unmet, and the men shuffled away uneasily. H34. As Brut Legor made his way to the courthouse, he was stunned to behold an array of armed men in sentry around its borders. As he approached, spears flashed and he was halted in his progress by claims of authority and threats of force. 35. Brut Legor, always reaching for understanding before anger, inquired of the guards as to their existence and to their purpose. 36. A savage looking man explained that the guards were comprised of mercenaries, hired by the magistrate, to protect the grounds of the courthouse and guard the jails, the mention of which came as a great surprise to Brut Legor. 37. The guards allowed Brut Legor to see the magistrate on the condition that he leave behind his cudgel in their care. 38. Always patient, Brut Legor complied, and went on to speak to the magistrate about the unwelcome changes he beheld in Roughstone. I39. The magistrate was welcoming to Brut Legor but on his guard as the man beheld the even greater-than-before opulence of the magistrate's chambers. 40. To Brut Legor's inquiries, the magistrate was curt and unrepentant. He claimed that old miner had attempted to lead a rebellion against his rule and the law of the town and was placed under arrest for his own safety and that of others. 41. The rest of the miners had refused to work, in protest, and so the magistrate was forced to imprison many to urge the others back into the mines. 42. The mercenaries were necessary to help him maintain order and to protect him from the unjust ire of others. J43. The wisdom of The Just God potent within him, Brut Legor knew well the sound of lies and the evil behind them. Yet his patience held as he asked to speak to the old miner and visit him in his cell. 44. The magistrate started to refuse but caught a glimpse of the fury behind Brut Legor's eyes and agreed to escort him to the prison. 45. With two guards in attendance and the magistrate looking warily on, Brut Legor asked the old miner to explain what led him to this state. 46. In the eyes of the other prisoners there was clearly great dread, a worry that the old miner would say something that would become his undoing, but such was the old miner's faith in The Just God that he felt no fear of the truth. K47. As the magistrate glowered nearby, the old miner explained that the day after Brut Legor left Roughstone, the mercenaries were hired and came for him in the night. He was placed under house arrest by the magistrate for defying his will and providing for those who were determined to be undeserving of wage. 48. Shortly after that the jail was built and the old miner became its first captive. 49. The other men in confinement were those who sought his release, either through refusal to do work or through active protest of the magistrate's judgment. 50. After many had been arrested, the will of the rest of the town had become broken, and the free men who remained had little strength to do other than act in thrall of the magistrate's wishes. L51. Brut Legor's suspicions were confirmed, his anger, fully realized. He turned to the magistrate and asked, slowly, one question of the fallen judge. Where had the gold come from that built the prison for the innocent, that now lined the pockets of the mercenaries paid to guard his wicked life? 52. Clearly shaken, but confident of his strength and the position Brut Legor was in, the magistrate haughtily replied that it was the withheld wages that he had been hording, keeping from the families he had judged as unworthy of their monthly earnings. 53. Then, with the spears of the guards pointed at his throat, Brut Legor was commanded by the magistrate to leave Roughstone and not return. 54. For he claimed that the town was his to sit in judgment over, his to rule, and that The Just God's blessing was upon his right to govern the town as he see fit. M55. Brut Legor, at the pinnacle of his fury, knew then that his presence in Roughstone had been ordained by The Just God, and that the Judgment of the magistrate was his to carry out. 56. Though he was alone and defenseless, surrounded by enemies, such was his faith in The Just God that he understood completely his role. 57. Within the heat of his own anger, then, Brut Legor felt a much more ancient rage dwelling up inside him and he understood that The Just God's grace was fully upon him. 58. As the mercenaries' spears drew closer to his neck he held aloft his empty arm and found his cudgel pressed into his open hand through the miracle of The Just God. 59. In a swift, experienced maneuver, Brut Legor felled both of the guards and turned his weapon upon the astonished magistrate. N60. The prisoners were released in short order and Brut Legor, the magistrate his captive, led the evil man back to his adorned and lavish quarters. 61. There, Brut Legor looked about the room, at the opulence and waste, each whiff of incense and each glimmer of gold bought with the toil of honest men and the crime of depriving them of their due. 62. Brut Legor turned upon the magistrate to pronounce sentence. There was fury in his stance and every action he made betrayed the truth; there would be no mercy for pretenders to The Just God. 63. Brut Legor stepped forward, and raised his cudgel once more. O64. The deed complete, Brut Legor stepped out upon the streets to the people of Roughstone, who awaited his direction obediently as the faithful of The Just God. The remainder of the mercenaries were dismissed by Brut Legor's piercing gaze and the stain of blood on his robes. 65. Brut Legor spoke to them, then. He spoke of their value as a people and their strength as worshipers of The Just God. 66. He spoke of the great things they had accomplished as a people and a kinship he had seen unequaled in his travels. 67. He called upon them to reclaim their lives as industrious, determined workers. 68. To tear down the corrupted courthouse that loomed above them and rebuild it with a renewed sense of resolve and faith. 69. To pursue with the same sense of holy purpose living a life blessed by The Just God. P70. The old miner stepped out from the crowd. Gaunt and pale from months of captivity, the strength of his character still hung about his bony frame. 71. He took the wrist of Brut Legor and offered him praise and thanks, and then turned, himself, to the people of Roughstone. 72. With little more than a gesture and a grunt, the old miner beckoned forth the townsfolk, and led them back. Back to their homes. Back to the mines. Back to the tasks that formed the structure of their existence. Back to having the grace of The Just God upon them in every aspect of their being. 73. Brut Legor, secure in the belief that Roughstone would thrive, turned his back and set off on his next task in the name of The Just God. |
Created by Faelinn Shadowmoon (Leanne Micciche) at 10-24-11 04:28 PM
Last Modified by Aeston Stromgate (Jason Rosa) at 06-02-12 10:55 PM