The Story of Nurpy

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Nurpy Fuzzyfeet
Sojourner
Posts: 288
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:28 am

The Story of Nurpy

Postby Nurpy Fuzzyfeet » Tue May 10, 2005 9:56 pm

The city was bustling with people. Traveling merchants, determined shopkeepers, vigilant guards, respected priests, and many other citizens not prone to special recognition populated the streets and their many avenues. All of this could be seen from the tree branch young Nurpy stood, tip-toeing, trying to get a glimpse above the city walls. His mother and he lived a four hour walk from Beluir, in a small shack sparsely surrounded in vegetation. His mother, who's real name he never knew, survived by fishing, farming, and sometimes making woven baskets and other crafts, when needed, to buy something they could not acquire themselves. Nurpy spent his days setting snares for rodents, fishing, playing, and on special occasions would take a trip with his mother to Beluir. He was very young, only 5 years of age. He had very vague memories of his father who died when Nurpy was only two. He had been a very successful merchant, but was killed when a band of thieves ambushed his caravan. Nurpy's mother was forced out of the easy-going life she once enjoyed, and so she had to seek out employment in the city of Beluir to support herself and her only son. At first she was a maid, she cooked meals and cleaned. However, the little gold she received was not adequate enough to support them both, and she had to leave Nurpy alone at home for prolonged periods of time. After that she took Nurpy and lived in what they would call their home for the time being.

Mother had already left when he awoke, which left many hours to be filled. Nurpy didn't know what she was doing, perhaps on a trip to Beluir, out gathering herbs, or simply going for a walk. Nurpy not knowing of anything better to do, left the confines of the cabin and went to climb his favorite spot in the tallest tree within an hours walking distance, as he had done so many times before. The tree was atleast 16 ft. in diameter, and had many grooves going up and down the trunk which served as great grips to climb it. It's branches sprawled out from its middle in a spider-like pattern. Nurpy agilely climbed to its higest branch, and stood on his toes to get a better view of the city, which brings us back to the present time. He watched the people mill about, hoping to maybe spot his mother among all the people. Which was of course impossible, but it gave him something to do. After a while he grew bored and climbed down from the tree. He walked to the woods, picked a tunic-ful of wild berries, and brought them back home, popping one into his mouth every so often. By the time he arrived home it was dusk, and mother was already back. He ran into the door of the broken-down cabin, spilling berries here and there. He dropped what was left on the table, and ran to give his mother a hug. She hugged him back affectionately, and smiled. "My oh my, who's this dirty little lad?" she said. Nurpy could only shrug with a sheepish grin on his face. She looked over at the mound of berries on the table, and stated with a happy tone, "Those shall go well with the bread I bought today at the market." They lived relatively happy like this for the next eleven years. Life became increasingly easy for the both of them as Nurpy matured, as he learned to hunt, garden, and make the trip to and from Beluir all alone.

One day mother stopped Nurpy on his way out, and said she needed to have a talk with him. She began to explain to him that they didn't have to live this way any longer. That if Nurpy decided to, he could go to Beluir and find work, and make enough gold to support them both. He agreed, plus he didn't want his mother to have to work this hard for the rest of her life. "But mother, what am I supposed to do?" he asked. "I don't know", she replied. "But I have scrounged for the past five years, and have managed to save this much so you can choose whatever path you desire." She stood up from where she was sitting, reached for a chair, and stood it up in front of a dusty shelf, climbed up on it, reached and produced a cup containing ten gold coins. She emptied the cup on the table and counted them out, one by one, and handed them to Nurpy with shaking hands. "Go to Beluir, and give this to the master that will teach you the ways of the trade you choose." Nurpy stunned, simply nodded, thanked his mother, and left without looking back.

When he left it had just turned noon, and by the time he arrived in Beluir it was five hours past. He had walked slowly, taking his time, thinking it all through. His first thought had been to go to the Priests guild, to learn the ways of healing. Then his attention was drawn to the Mages of Beluir, the few proud and incredibly smart beings that they were. He then quickly turned that idea down, as he did not contain intelligence of that level, though he was not dumb. He then saw a dark cloaked figure sneak up behind a rich looking man and snatch his coin purse, to turn around and run into a guard who unsheathed his blade and to Nurpy's surprise cut off the thief's hand. Nurpy stood in awe of the guard, and after the thief had been dragged away and the victims purse returned, he humbly strolled up to the guard and asked, "Excuse me, but where did you learn to use the sword in such a way?" The guard looked into Nurpy's honest eager eyes, and replied "The Master Warrior taught me of course, he trains all of the guards." After a brief chat, the guard gave Nurpy directions to the guildmaster.

He arrived at the guild, and when the door guard stopped him, he showed him his gold coins, and explained his reason for coming here. The guard chuckled a bit, nodded, and let him in. To Nurpy's surprise there were several halflings about training, practicing sword strokes, sparring with one another. Immediately his attention was drawn to the most dangerous looking being he had ever seen. He stood about four feet tall, his arms were riddled with scars, and he had the look of a big chunk of muscle. He must have noticed Nurpy's stares because he casually walked over to him and asked him impatiently "What business do you have here?" Nurpy replied in a scared voice "I'm here to learn, to train." The master warrior gave him a suspicious look and asked "Oh so you want me to train you? Where's the fee?" Nurpy gulped. He didn't know if what he had brought was enough, he hadn't asked the guard the price. He reached into his pocket and produced the ten gold coins and offered them freely and trustingly to this stranger he just met. The warrior nodded and took eight of the ten coins. He then looked Nurpy over, from top to bottom, and made a funny comment on Nurpy's overly hairy feet, even for a halfling. This made them both laugh, and easened up things between the two of them. "Anyway, take the two gold you have left and give one to the weapon and armor smith, he will fit you with a sword and a suit of armor, and take the other and give it to the guard you saw when you came in. He will supply you with a room, and show you where the rest of the provisions are. Get some rest tonight, your training starts tomorrow."

Nurpy, happier than ever, did as he was told, except he could not sleep at all that night. He fingered the blade of the short sword he had been given, admiring its sleekness and deadly capabilities. His armor was a heavy steel breastplate, which seemed to weigh more than he did, and some steel leg plates that strapped over his moth-eaten cloth pants uncomfortably. His arms were protected by chainmail sleeves. He stayed up the entire night, and watched the crack of dawn approach with blood-shot and excited eyes. A knock rattled on his door, and when he answered he heard a voice say in a calm manner "Get suited up and report to the training hall." He shot from his bed and carefully shrugged into the armor, which seemed way too big for him. He walked clumsily out to the training area, to see the master warrior instructing another trainee on how to perform a sword stroke properly. Upon Nurpy's arrival he stopped what he was doing and walked over to him. "Leave Beluir, run laps around the city wall til the sun begins to set. You must remain fully armored during all of it. It's time to get some muscle on you."

Nurpy slept like a rock that night. He continued his training for ten years, practicing sword strokes, learning all of the skills of the guard and of war. He became a part-time city gate guard when he wasn't training, and was earning a decent wage. Every few weeks he would return to the cabin in which his mother still lived, give her some gold and food, and ask her if she would come back with him to the city so she could have an easier life. She would always say no, and give the excuse she was happy right where she was. He would leave a little dismayed, but he was still happy in the fact whether she returned with him or not, that he had made her proud. She was very glad with what he had made of himself, and always reassured him of it.

After one particularly hard day of training, it was nearing dusk and Nurpy stopped off in a tavern for a drink. He had done his best to stay away from drinking, as it impaired his better judgement and that was not wise being one in his position. But he wanted something to help him sleep, and he drank his fill of ale that night. He stumbled drunkenly down a street, never having been so intoxicated in his life, and staggered into his room at the inn. He had long since moved out of the training hall, and now possessed a luxurious dwelling with a soft bed and all the accessories. He peeled off his armor and let it clatter to the floor, and then fell into his bed and slept for hours and hours. When Nurpy awoke, he thought he had dreamed of someone knocking loudly on his door, yelling, but he was unable to make out the words. He got up, feeling ashamed and stupid, probably late for guard duty. It was around noon. When he got dressed and armored, he opened his door and stepped out onto the street to behold a horrific scene. The south gates of Beluir had been smashed in several places, bodies on stretchers lay everywhere, some of them just piled onto the ground. Blood stained the street in all directions, and the people that had been injured and not killed moaned and screamed in pain. Nurpy immediataly found the one who had trained him for the past ten years, standing by the gates, inspecting the damage. He ran over to him, and asked what was wrong. "Trolls. Invasion by Trolls. Dozens are dead, scores more are wounded." He seemed disinterested that Nurpy had slept through it all. "We managed to repel them off, and even killed one of them." And made a gesture towards a huge green figure about ten feet away, bleeding what seemed a river of blood from an array of arrow piercings. "They began the attack at about midnight, and retreated at dawn." he said with finality. "They fled south-west from here, into a small patch of woods." Nurpy's heart sank to his toes when he heard this. "I have to go, now. Forgive me master, but this is a matter of life and death." With that Nurpy turned and ran like he had never before, to the cabin he had lived in what felt like centuries ago.


When he arrived, out of breath, the cabin door was ripped off its hinges. He ran inside shouting "Mother!" at the top of his lungs, but in his heart he knew it was in vain. Everything lay askew, the table he had ate at in his childhood lay in pieces, blood droplets were scattered everywhere. A thin dagger, his mothers possession, was thrown off in a corner, the end covered in a shade of crimson. He witnissed all of this, then broke down and wept. After the tears were over with for the moment, he uprighted a chair and sat down, pondering what to do next. He looked outside and thought to himself that maybe she was still alive, just taken captive and could be rescued. That was when he noticed the smoke. Smoke from the woods further to the west. At once he stood up and quickly but quietly headed towards the puffs of smoke. As he drew closer, he saw the fire in which the smoke came from....and the four figures around it. Each of them was about seven feet tall, with greenish gray skin. They seemed to be cooking some sort of meat, the smell of it Nurpy could not recognise. He drew even closer, hid in a bush no more than twenty feet away, and quietly unsheathed his sword. These were no doubt the Trolls that had attacked Beluir....and maybe the ones who had captured his mother. For a moment fear overtook him, only 5 of these beasts had killed dozens of his fellow guardsmen and injured many more. But they had killed one...his fear soon turned to anger, and he got up his nerve. He moved from his cover, sneaking up as quietly as he could, behind one of the Trolls. Luckily, they were all facing the same direction sitting on a tree log, chewing on something. As he drew even closer, he could smell their horrid stench, hear them noisily gnawing at whatever they were eating. He drew closer. his heart beat quickened, and he raised his sword high in the air. He stood no more than three feet from one of them now, and with a yell of anger and force, swiftly thrust his sword from the left to the right, cutting its head off in a perfect horizontal line. Even after the beast was decapitated, its gangly muscular arms pinwheeled around for a few more seconds, throwing the bone it had been gnawing into the air. The other three seemed momentarily stunned, but not for long. Savage growls escaped their throats. They clamored to their feet, one of them seizing a war hammer, the other a gigantic battle axe. The other did not possess a weapon. The axe-wielder swung with all his might at Nurpy, missing narrowly striking the ground next to him. Nurpy felt the ground shake, but before the Troll could re-orient himself he slid himself under the Troll and as he went under thrust his sword up into probably the softest spot the Troll had. A shriek of agony was heard, and the wounded Troll fell to the ground in a huddled fetal position. Nurpy righted himself to his feet to receive a kick in the stomach from the unarmed Troll, which knocked him several feet into a tree. He felt consciousness try to leave him, but shook it off. He stood up uneasily, and weakly pointed his sword out in front of him in a protective gesture. The unarmed troll was already charging at Nurpy, taking long strides, and he didn't have time to change course before he impaled himself on the blade. Nurpy simply thrust his sword up and separated the trolls right torso from his left. Only one left now. The last troll standing looked around him in what seemed like terror at his fallen brethren. He dropped his hammer and ran. Nurpy, now brimming with self-confidence, pursued him quickly. The Troll was much too fast for him however, and he soon lost sight of him. He returned to the fire, stood over the wimpering and moaning troll whom he had probably castrated, and laughed. He looked over to the fire....saw scattered bones around and...a hand? He took a step closer, looked down, and picked up what appeared to be a halflings arm. His eyes drifted to the other side of the fire, and he saw what was left of his mother. She had been completely gutted, probably alive from the pained look on her face. Her arms and legs were dismembered, and her eyes were empty sockets. He now knew what they were eating. Nurpy fell to his knees and began to weep. He heard chuckling from behind him, the Troll that had been laughed at before, was now laughing at Nurpy's sorrow. Boiling with anger, he stood up, raised his sword and took off the trolls head. He looked up into the sky and gave a primal scream that sounded of anguish, and victory.


He took the heads of the three trolls he had killed and put them in a sack, along with three sharpened tree branches. He found all of the pieces of his mother he could find, and buried her under the most beautiful tree he could find. He then started on his way back to Beluir, with his trophies over his shoulder. By the time he arrived it was dusk, and he simply checked into his room and slept til early morning. When he awoke, he left for the Town Center and called for everyone willing to join him. First he placed all three sticks into the ground, then he pulled one troll head after the other out, placing them on top of the sticks, their faces contorted in painful looking snarls. When he was finished, everyone stood around him, bewildered, then they broke out into cheer. Nurpy's master came to congratulate him, and asked, "You did this by yourself?" "This is only the beginning. I will not stop until I have rid the world of every last one of these foul creatures." Nurpy replied. His trainer tried to convince him to stay to be captain of the guard, but Nurpy would hear none of it. He thanked him and said he would be leaving soon. Where he would go exactly, he didn't know, but he had an idea that a troll was probably a days walk south of here. "Good luck my friend. Don't forget there is always a place for you here." Nurpy nodded at the one who had taught him everything he knew about combat, and left Beluir that same day.

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Let me know what you think, my very first story.
Aristan group-says 'nurpy=tripod'

Shevarash GCC: 'Tiamat stands here, fighting Nurpy.'

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