"What do you mean? The North King's Mask?" Sundome asked. He never really thought about the mask, and even the wise old Alchemist never said a word. Although his face never seemed to show what he was thinking.
"You don't even know!!??? Half a silver?" She gasped as she got back up. She went behind a curtain and then returned holding an old dusty book.
"I guess time has passed and less and less people remember the North King!" She said. She opened the book to a dusty page and wiped it with her spotless gown.
She read from the book.
"The North King raided the lands of Narlath, and pillaged it's wealth, killed all of the men during the Era of Lord's. On his crown are the 7 Lord's of the 7 kingdoms among which Narlath is only one." The picture of the crown was indeed grisly. It looked like there were seven shrunken heads which hung upon it, and each one maintained a visage of death, yet did not decay.
"The Era of Lord's?"
"900 years ago, the Era of Lord's came to an end when the King of the North entered the 7 kingdoms and took the life of every Lord. However, he was cursed by the Narlath Witch, Shikana, that one day his face would fall off.
"When the North King had long returned to the North Lands, and the world was weeping in blood as only it's young children could grow to become men, the curse suddenly ran through the North Lands and a tremor was felt upon the earth. The lands of the 7 kingdoms shook, and a cry of rage lifted up to the heavens. The face of the North King fell off and became the North King's Mask."
The North King retreated into his kingdom, not to be heard from again.
Stolen story; please report.
"Two hundred years later, the mask was discovered. It was worn by the Adventurer Solarn. Solarn was a good man but the mask turned him away from that path and led him on a darker more sinister one."
"Solarn took up the King's Mask and eventually sought to destroy the very land he was born in, which is Chillany, which lies to the west."
"Eventually he hid the mask from himself, and that was the last that was heard of it. The North King's Mask is entirely evil. And it will weild evil power in you."
Sundome was quiet for a while.
"How much is it worth?" He finally asked.
This caused her to be even more stunned. "It's a legacy. And evil legacy! And you want to know how much you can profit from it!?"
Sundome didn't realize this simple mask had such a legacy. Still he had noticed that his personality was slightly darker, but not on the level of Evil. He paid no heed to her words, and she never gave him an answer as to it's worth.
However the story did cause a keen interest to arise in him. The more he thought about it, the stranger this place was. This game, is almost like a reality. It's a world 27,000 years in the future that he entered into through some time rift it seemed. Of course, that was just his thinking. In reality, it is a software, a game, that was developed for the Recca 6.
When Sundome exited the luxuriant building with the Sky Beholds Spear in his hand he felt that it's full weight was something that he could not weild. Luckily Miss Contess also loaned him a few potions to lessen the power of the spear.
Holding it one hand, and walking down the crowded street, Sundome felt as if his Apocalypse Earth journey was finally beginning. Virtual Reality was like that. Although one could log out, it didn't feel any different than the real world. One could adventure and become whatever they desired, in a land where there was endless opportunity. Thus the world of Appocalypse Earth was less of a game, and more of a place of exploration.
He returned to the tavern the same way he had come. It was then that he noticed the players who had followed him and Wellington from Dourmoth were still hanging around. They lurked in the shadows, pretended to blend in, but they were all set up along this path.
Without the Silver Bell, but with his newly acquired Sky Beholds Spear, the wearer of the North King's Mask was about to be tested.