UO 公式 Seven Deaths
Facebook広田剣 7つの死
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Seven Deaths
Posted on October 1, 2018 by UO Dev Team
10/1/2018
To shepherd in the Treasures of Khaldun we have a series of short pieces of fiction to supplement the events in-game. We present the next installment,
Seven Deaths
By EM Malachi
The bone fingers wrapped around a stone and began scratching the words again onto the crypt walls. The skeleton did not see the blasphemy it was writing. The Sun had never touched the dark tunnels, and the skeleton’s eyes had long ago decayed to dust. It didn’t matter. The story itself was part of the spell that kept it moving, and it would continue to etch the words over every stone surface for eternity, as it waited for the return:
There was once a powerful mage named Khal Ankur whose glory demanded tribute from all those around his domain. The leaders and sages in these lands grew to resent this high price and looked for a way to end the mage’s reign.
One lord sent an assassin to cut out Khal Ankur’s heart. In the night, the killer came with blades sharp enough to split hairs. The mage woke when the blades pierced his chest, and Khal Ankur spoke to the killer, “For the gift you have given me, I give equal measure.” When he was done, Khal Ankur returned the assassin’s heart to the lord who had sent him.
Another king saw an opportunity, and offered Khal Ankur his daughter’s hand. While the young bride was sweet, the poison she carried was not. As the newly married couple raised a toast, Khal Ankur drank deeply from his cup. As his lips turned black, he spoke to his bride, “For the gift you have given me, I give equal measure.” Then he kissed her.
One nation sent their greatest witch-hunter. The zealot pulled Khal Ankur from his sanctum and covered him with flammable oils. As the roaring flames tore at his body, Khal Ankur laughed at the hunter. “For the gift you have given me, I give equal measure.” The wind brought the zealot’s ashes home.
Confident from drink, a mob of young princes thought to take care of what their elders could not. They managed to corner Khal Ankur at a feast and bludgeon him unconscious. Covering his head with a sack and binding his feet with heavy irons, they drowned Khal Ankur in the deep sea. Khal Ankur’s voice was heard from beneath the waves, “For the gift you have given me, I give equal measure.” They spent the night celebrating on the edge of the tide, and a sudden surge claimed their drunken forms.
A settlement of miners decided to stop paying the golden tribute demanded of them, sending instead one covered in pox and pestilence. The leper died at the gates to Khal Ankur’s domain, and the sickness spread through those who served the mage. As the pox marked Khal Ankur’s flesh, he made the journey to the mines. His voice rumbled down the tunnels, “For this gift you have given me, I give equal measure.” No gold ever left those mines again.
An alliance of kingdoms sent their armies to surround and lay siege to Khal Ankur’s fortress. Without food or supplies, those inside consumed insects and rats before dying of hunger. On the final day, the mage walked out of the fortress, withered from hunger. Khal Ankur bit into his own arm for a taste of meat. Collapsing to the ground and with his own blood dripping from his mouth, he offered this retort, “For this gift you have given me, I give equal measure.” Locusts destroyed the harvest that year, and all food stores spoiled. Those kingdoms became known as the lands of gnawed bones.
With the pathetic rabble crushed and utterly alone, Khal Ankur grew melancholy and retreated to the crypt under his sanctum. He lay on a slab of stone and mark his forehead with a powerful glyph. As his life drained away, the bodies of his servants and enemies started to move. The horde came to his side to listen to his final words: “I will sleep until four great powers join me in the shade. Give me this gift, and I will give equal measure.”
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7つの死
出典: UO公式
https://uo.com/2018/10/01/seven-deaths/
By EM Malachi
骨だけの手は石を握り締め、墓場の壁に再び文字を刻み始めた。スケルトンはそれがいささかも何かを冒涜するものとは考えなかった。日の光が暗いトンネル内を照らしたことはなく、スケルトンの目はとうの昔に朽ちて塵と化してしまっていた。そんなことはどうでも良かった。物語は動くことを止めない呪文の一節に過ぎず、それは永遠にすべての石の表面に言葉を刻み続け、復活の時を待っているのだ。
昔々、Khal Ankurという栄光を欲しいままにし、賞賛を集めた偉大なメイジがいた。しかしその土地の指導者と賢者たちはそのあまりの勢力にこのメイジの失脚を願うようになった。
とある地主はKhal Ankurの心臓をえぐり取ろうと暗殺者を送り込んだ。真夜中に殺人者は十分に鋭利な剣を携えてやって来た。メイジは剣が彼の胸を貫くと目覚め、暗殺者に語りかけた。「お前が私に与えた贈り物と、同じだけのものをお前に返そう。」そしてそれを実行すると、暗殺者の心臓を、彼を送り込んだ地主に送り返した。
とある王は好機を捉え、Khal Ankurに娘をやると言った。花嫁は若く愛らしかったが、彼女が忍ばせていた毒は甘くはなかった。新婚の二人は祝杯をあげ、Khal Ankurは杯から一滴残らず飲み干した。彼の唇がどす黒く変色すると、彼は花嫁に向かって言った。「お前が私に与えた贈り物と、同じだけのものをお前に返そう。」そして彼女に口づけた。
とある国は魔女狩りの名手を送り込んだ。名手はKhal Ankurを聖地から引きずり出して可燃性の油を浴びせた。燃え盛る炎がKhal Ankurの体を覆うと、彼は名手をあざ笑った。「お前が私に与えた贈り物と、同じだけのものをお前に返そう。」風が吹き、灰となった名手は故郷へ帰った。
酔って気が大きくなった若い王子たちは、彼らの祖先がなし得なかったことを達成しようと考えた。祭りの日に彼らはKhal Ankurを意識がなくなるまで殴った。彼の頭を袋で覆い、足を鉄の重りで縛ると海の底へと沈めた。Khal Ankurの声が波の下から響き渡った。「お前が私に与えた贈り物と、同じだけのものをお前に返そう。」王子たちは波の突先で夜を徹して飲み、突如として大きな渦巻きが酔っ払いたちを飲み込んで行った。
鉱夫たちの村は彼らに課せられた金の徴収を拒否しようと決意した。代わりに疫病に罹り、水痘で覆われた使者をメイジのもとに送った。使者はKhal Ankurの領地の入り口で死に、疫病はメイジに仕える者たちの間に瞬く間に広がった。Khal Ankurの肉体に水痘が現れた時、彼は鉱夫たちの村へと旅立った。彼の声が坑道の中に轟いた。「お前が私に与えた贈り物と、同じだけのものをお前に返そう。」その鉱山から金が搬出されることは二度と無かった。
同盟を組んだ王国はKhal Ankurの要塞を包囲しようと軍を送り込んだ。兵糧攻めに遭った要塞の中の人々は、虫やネズミで飢えをしのぎながら息絶えて行った。最後の日にメイジは衰弱しながら要塞の外へ歩み出た。自らの腕の肉を味わい、口から自らの血を滴らせながらその場にくずおれてメイジは言った。「お前が私に与えた贈り物と、同じだけのものをお前に返そう。」イナゴがその年の収穫物をすべて食い荒らし、食料品店は全部つぶれてしまった。これらの王国は齧られ、しゃぶりつくされた骨が散乱する土地として知られるようになった。
あまりに悲観的な民衆に打ちのめされ、孤独のうちにKhal Ankurは彼の聖地の下にある墓所へと退いた。石の板の上に横たわり、額に強力な護符を刻んだ。彼の魂が体から抜けて行くと同時に、彼のしもべとその敵もまた動き始めた。群衆は彼の最後の言葉を聞くために傍に控えた。「私は4つの偉大なる力が闇の中で私とひとつになるまで眠り続ける。私に贈り物を。同じだけのものを返そう。」
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