The Gods That Keep Them

Make Your Mark

Ningh the dwarven wizard sat in his cottage staring at his book of spells. Written on the pages of this tome was his life's work as a magic user in the kingdom of Kelgrond. All of his research was there, and all of his successes. The failures were too numerous to list, however. Ningh erased those from the pages with a spell bought from a traveling magic merchant. Quite a useful bit of magic, that erasure spell, to be sure. And that is all Ningh wanted to do; he wanted to create something that would leave his mark on Asa-thor. He wanted to make a legacy.

To date, he continued to be little known in the kingdom he called home and completely unknown outside of dwarven borders. His name was not synonymous with power, creativity, wisdom, or ingenuity. No one cowered in fear or gasped in awe with respect when anyone uttered the name Ningh. That is what the dwarf had been trying to change for what seemed an eternity.

He made a decent wage selling spellbombs, which Ningh wished were his invention. The dwarf who had come up with the idea of stuffing pottery balls with magic, Liam Tornfell, had made his mark and his fortune with that invention. And Ningh was highly skilled with magic, in fact, he was better than most. The problem was that the old dwarven wizard just didn't have good ideas. The book with his name on the cover, his mark that he used on all the spellbombs he crafted, was full of his terrible magical creations. 

He had devised a spell that increased the recipient's strength by twenty times, but so far Ningh had only been able to achieve the effect for about two seconds. Not very useful. The wizard had also made a potion that, when drunk, made the imbiber able to breathe underwater for up to two hours. The only problem was the unfortunate side-effect; complete and total paralysis. 

"What good is breathing underwater if ye can't fuckin' move?" Ningh muttered to himself as he flipped the pages of his book. "I just want ta make me mark, by the ancestors and the Gods that keep them. Is that too much ta ask?"

Also scribbled on the old pages of Ningh's tome were his adaptations. This was a particular talent of his. It might not be as amazing as creating a spell that everyone on Asa-thor would benefit from, but Ningh thought he might just be able to achieve a bit of fame in Kelgrond with this tactic. He would take human magic and work with it until he could adapt it for dwarvish use. For instance, human love potions carried a bit of magic that forced you to fall in love with the first person you saw. But that did not include dwarves. So if a dwarf bought and used a human love potion, the dwarf would fall in love with the first human he or she saw, but would not be affected by any of their own kind. It was a real problem.

Ningh had adapted that potion so that whoever drank his version would fall in love with the first dwarf he or she saw. It was a real triumph for the wizard and almost made him famous. But Queen Taena had banned love potions in Kelgrond a week after Ningh had successfully devised he adaptation. It had been a real kick in the teeth for the old wizard. But Ningh had come too far and spent too long in the world of magic to turn back and attempt to make his mark elsewhere. Magic was his only chance to change his destiny and become one of the well-known dwarves on Asa-thor. And that is all he had ever dreamed of, being famous and much loved... or feared. Ningh would settle for fear if he couldn't have adoration and respect.

"But this lass, this Ceean the whore, she holds the key to me fame," Ningh muttered again.

The wizard suddenly thought back to many  years ago, when a human male had come to the Grinding Wheel in search of giants. The man had worn such strange clothing, all brightly colored and frilly. And such tight pants! Ningh had been drowning his sorrows in many pints of ale when the odd man had come in. It was just after love potions had been banned, and all his hard work had been tossed out of the window.

"Nay, there's no' any giants 'round here, lad," Ningh had told the human. "But, bein' a wizard, I could sell ye some scryin' and find where they be."

"Master wizard, that would be much appreciated. But, there is no rush for the time being. Let us drink together and chat. I've come a long way and find that I need some company and bit of drink."