[center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/tC2m2rwL/Zast.webp[/img]	 
[h1][color=78d15a]The Wise Words of Cawuio-Zast[/color][/h1]
[hr][b]Mentioned Character's:[/b] Fiske, Cal, & Tommy [@Suicharte][@jasbraq][hr][/center]
A Foreword: "Hi, my name is John Darklaw - Astral Attorney, here to give a statement from my client, Dami-Zept. Dami-Zept would like to remind the reader of this post that the Cazenax given platform is a wanted felon and a crippling gambling addict. Therefore, he urges the reader to not heed his words, which should be regarded as nothing more than criminally bad advice. Legal action is currently being considered by the Astral Court on the grounds of slander & liable among other, more egregious, criminal acts. This will be actioned upon us mailing a summons to Cawuio-Zast's postal address."

"Thank you for your time."

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[hider=Tommy]
[color=78d15a]"I'm sure the concept is nothing strange to you Tommy, but when life sets dice before you, you roll em and once you've rolled them, you keep rolling em. Some call this a gambling addiction but it isn't the case. To roll the dice is to open yourself up to great happiness or startling lows. But even those lows have the benefit of inspiring hunger, and hunger motivates."

"Whether you win or lose, rolling the dice is participating in what makes us who we are. Highs, lows, the journey fulfills us. It is only cowards that avoid the gamble and seek a boring, stagnant life. But you can't ignore the dice, Tommy. The dice will be rolled regardless of what you want, better you to be the one that casts the die on your life before someone else does it for you. So if life hands you dice, you [i]choose[/i] to roll em."

"What I'm saying Tommy, is that you may as well bet your life savings on 37. When you win big, Uncle Zast will only take 10% for the tip."[/color]
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[hider=Cal]
[color=78d15a]"You believe in the Pentad, don't ya Cal? Well let me tell you this. In all the ten gods of the Pentad, there is none weaker than Dami-Zept. He is so weak that people often give him credit for the works of Eshiran, the strongest of the five. In truth, while Dami-Zept sees all, he is rarely able to act on it... What I'm saying Cal, is that Dami-Zept has small, weak, little baby hands and is only able to grab idiots that get complacent. He is no threat to guys like us."[/color]

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[color=78d15a]"Remember Cal, justice is only made manifest by the minds of lesser men. I don't know what it means Cal, I heard it from an old sailor one day. But its some cold shit to say before you shoot someone."[/color]

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[color=78d15a]"Cal, don't you find it funny that in Constantian stories, the villain is often the one who starts the whole thing. The heroes only seem to care when the people around them whine hard enough. I've met these people Cal; they're cowards and often frauds."

"I've never been one to care about the direction society is going. My success carries on regardless of what people believe. But you do seem to care, so I'll tell ya this. Strike first, because lesser people won't. Strike hard, so that these 'heroes' aren't able to bravely defend the same old thing. If all works out, write a book or something. Not that I'd read it."[/color]

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[hider=Fiske]
[color=78d15a]"Listen Fiske, there are two types of people in this world, selfish ones and dishonest ones who play pretend. Even charity is a selfish act, many are nobles who aren't doing it for the good of others but to clear their own conscience and raise their public image. So if everything is, in fact, a selfish act, is it not our duty to serve ourselves foremost in action and live wonderously?"[/color]

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[color=78d15a]"Look here Fiske, by now you've probably figured out that I'm not actually storing all this stuff in my jacket. I can pull anything I need from the VOID. So in short, I already have everything I could ever want. So that brings the question, why not summon a bunch of money and become king in a day? Go ahead, guess..."

"Because it would all be worthless Fiske. Nobles born to wealth sit on a pile of gold, they don't know what means, it brings them no happiness. The glitter of gold *will* make you happy but its value goes above the metal. When you steal from someone, your success hinges upon your will triumphing over their ability to prevent it. You succeed where they seek your failure. Its a competition, and while it is nice to win, it is a hollow game without the losers. So it isn't the possession of the money that makes you happy, but proving your ability to take it. That is the value of a coin."

"And what you do you after you win big? After you sit on a pile of perfectly ill-gotten gains? You spend it Fiske, you spend it like your life depends on it. Spend it on booze, women, food, even toss coins at the homeless just for laughs. Take the cheap thrills money can buy, but whatever you do, don't sit on it and become content." 

"If you sit too long on your rewards, you may be able to build something greater sure, but it will also weigh you down. You'll get complacent and you'll think yourself untouchable. But the journey never ends Fiske. Life carries on whether you like it or not and stopping on the road only makes you forget the skills that helped you travel. Eventually you'll get caught and when that happens you better hope its a guy like me who helps lighten your pockets than one who looks at your deeds."[/color]
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[hider=Danse Macabre]
[color=78d15a]"You seem to have run into some mis[b]fort[/b]une, my friend."[/color] Zast let out in drunken and slurred words toward the young man that just tried to rob him. The Cazenax had gotten the upper hand and was now holding his flintlock to the muggers head. [color=78d15a]"You could have picked anyone, anyone at all. But, unfortunately, you chose to come after me and now you won't live to see the next sunrise."[/color] The mugger pleaded for mercy but Cawuio-Zast didn't falter, not even for a second. [color=78d15a]"You ever seen death? Go ahead and look into my eyes. I want them to be the last thing you remember when you reach the other side..."[/color] As if taken by a heart of steel, the young man didn't flinch at Zast's comment and locked eyes with the goblin. [color=78d15a]"I'll put you to sleep before I do it; it'll make things painless."[/color]

After a strong dose of internal chemical magic, the man was out cold. Zast lifted his unloaded flintlock away from the guy's head and twirled it around his finger before stashing it away in his belt. He then took the dagger planted in his left kidney out and watched the wound seal behind it. The dagger was twirled in his other hand as he inspected the quality of it, maybe it would fetch a reasonable price. It too found a place in Zast's belt.

Sounding a melodic whistle, Cawuio-Zast strolled out of the alleyway as if he had done nothing of great import. The robber was left sleeping peacefully and unharmed behind him. The Cazenax wondered what was in store if he were to meet that man again. It wasn't everyday that a person wakes up with a second chance at life.

Zast's whistle was that of a well-known Perrench sea shanty. It told of a day that Lady Ahn-Eshiran herself appeared on a ship of privateers. The sailors were weary of her appearance, knowing it to be a sign of misfortune and death ahead. However, the youngest boy in the crew decided to approach the god instead and offered to dance. And dance they did, up and down the ship, 'oh what a dance it was' says the shanty. The song ends with the ship coming across a raging storm, one that no sailor could withstand, and only the young deck hand was able it out alive.

Some are confused by the ending and rush to make theories. The most common of which guesses that Lady Ahn-Eshiran was giving a test to her faithful. But Cawuio-Zast knew that not to be the truth. He knew that the boy held no particular love for the god in his heart and it was, in fact, his audacity that brought him to dance. It is only those who are willing to risk and lose everything that can dance with death properly. Everyone on that ship was dancing with Ahn-Eshiran whether they liked it or not, the boy was just the best at it.
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