[翻译]投德的人生轨迹
节选自《长枪之役》(War of the Lance) 人物部分。
Editor's Note: When Toede was made a Dragon Highlord, he felt the need to publish his own biography for the edification of future generations. He dictated the story of his life to a slave, who, it is said, started laughing so hard that he was taken out and soundly whipped. Be it noted, then, that this is the Fewmaster's own version of his life—the condensed version. The complete thirty-seven volumes can be found in a wooden crate in the basement of the Library of Palanthas.
编者按：当投德成为一个龙骑将时，他觉得有必要出版一本他自己的传记，以此来启迪后人。他将他的生涯口述给一位奴隶记录。据说，这位奴隶曾因为笑得太厉害而被拖出去结结实实的吃了一顿鞭子。于是这些故事被记录下来，被呈现在这里。这就是修马斯特个人版的他的一生——浓缩版。完整版的全部三十七卷可以在帕兰萨斯大图书馆地下室的一个木箱子里被找到。
Toede was born the love child of Queen Takhisis, after Her Dark Majesty fell head over heels in love with Toede's father, a hobgoblin of enormous good looks and manly prowess, traits that he would pass onto his son. Takhisis adored her new baby boy and named him Toede after her favorite uncle, Toede Highgod. Takhisis wanted very much to raise her precious Toede herself, but she was persuaded by her advisors that being busy with the conquering the world, she wouldn't be able to give her infant the full-time care and love she felt he deserved. Weeping copiously, Takhisis handed over the baby to his father. Takhisis vowed that she would ever watch over her dear little Toede and grant him every blessing.
投德是塔克西斯的私生子，是在黑暗女王陛下神魂颠倒的爱上了投德的父亲——一个极其英俊，极其具有男性魅力的大地精之后产生的。这位大地精的这些优良品质也被他的儿子所继承。塔克西吉非常宠爱她的这个孩子，用她最崇敬的叔叔，神上神投德，来为这个孩子命名。尽管塔克西斯很想亲自抚养投德这个宝贝孩子，但是她最终被她的顾问们说服。尽管她认为应该给予这个婴儿她全部的照顾和关爱，但是由于忙于征服世界，她不可能做得到。暗地里哭了几场以后，塔克西斯将孩子送给她的父亲抚养。塔克西斯发誓将会永远看顾她亲爱的小投德并赐予他无限的祝福。
The youthful Toede was his father's favorite son. A genius, Toede came very close to being able to read and, could, on occasion, write his own name, though he would sometimes confuse the letters “o” and “e”. He would always say, humbly, that this shows that even the sons of goddesses possess frailities.
青年时的投德是他父亲的掌上明珠。投德是个天才，几乎能够阅读，而且偶尔能够写出自己的名字，尽管有的时候会将字母"o"和"e"弄混淆。他总是谦虚地说，这证明了即使是女神的儿子也有不完美的地方。
Noted for his weapons skills, Toede achieves expert status in spear, long sword and short sword, mace, morning star, longbow, short bow, dagger, rapier, poignard, staff, knife, bludgeon and truncheon, not to mention the martial arts. Toede was also highly proficient in magic, so much so that he was pressed by the great Par-Salian to join the Orders. He was told that he could even forgo taking the Test, for such was his skill that he could teach the wizards a thing or two. Toede declined, with thanks. He was a warrior, not a wizard.
由于他武器方面的技能，投德在长矛、长剑、短剑、锤棍、钉头槌、长弓、短弓、匕首、细剑、锐匕、长棍、小刀、短棒、警棍方面都取得了专家的称号，更不要提武术了。投德也非常精通使用魔法，以至于伟大的帕·萨理安多次敦促他加入魔法工会。他被告知甚至不用参加试炼，因为他的技艺是如此超凡脱俗甚至可以教上法师们一两手。投德感谢他的好意，但还是拒绝了。他是个战士，而不是法师。
Toede fought in a great many battles—so many that he forgot their names or where they were fought or when they took place. Suffice it to say that his heroics brought him to the attention of Dragon Highlord Ariakas, who begged Toede to come to Neraka to be the Highlord's chief advisor.
投德参加过无数次战斗——次数太多了以至于他已经记不清这些战斗的名字，在哪里发生的以及发生时他自己在哪里。一个事件足以证明这些：在他的英雄事迹传到了龙骑将艾瑞阿卡斯那里之后，后者请求投德来到奈拉卡成为他的首席顾问。
Ariakas was so impressed with Toede that he pleaded with Toede to accept the vaunted Crown of Power. A humble hobgoblin, Toede was forced to refuse this request, stating that he had no political ambitions, but wanted simply to serve his mother, the Queen, in whatever humble capacity he could. Ariakas, though crushed, understood and honored Toede for his decision.
艾瑞阿卡斯被投德震惊了了以至于恳求投德接受被众人追捧的权力之冠。作为一个谦虚的大地精，投德必须拒绝他的要求，并声明他没有任何政治野心，只是想尽可能谦逊的为他的母亲，黑暗之后，效劳。尽管受到了沉重的打击，艾瑞阿卡斯还是表示理解和尊重投德的决定。
During his time in Neraka, Toede met a spirited young human woman named Kitiara. The two began a passionate love affair, which Toede, sadly, was forced to break off. He could not be a lover and warrior, he told her. The military had need of his services and he could not disappoint them.
在奈拉卡的日子里，投德遇见了一个名叫奇蒂拉的活泼勇敢的人类女性。他们开始了一场充满激情的恋爱，但是后来投德悲哀的决定终结这段关系。他对她说，他不能同时作为一个好情人和一个好战士。军队需要他去效命而他不能使他们失望。
Kitiara nearly died of a broken heart, but she recovered and buried her grief over losing Toede by throwing herself into her work. She would later always claim that her rise to Dragon Highlord was due solely to the fact that Toede had rejected her.
奇蒂拉几乎因为心碎而死，但是她终于恢复过来，努力的工作来化解失去投德的悲哀。后来奇蒂拉总是声称她之所以能成为一个龙骑将完全是因为投德当年拒绝了她。
At this point in his career, Toede departed Neraka, bound for Pax Tharkas, a keep currently being run by a human named Verminaard. This Verminaard had been made a Dragon Highlord—over Toede's objections. Ariakas would later confide to Toede that he didn't have any choice in the matter, that he'd had to pick Verminaard because the man owed him money. Ariakas sent Toede along to keep an eye on things.
在他事业中的这个时间段，他离开了奈拉卡，去往一座叫帕克塔卡斯的要塞，不过那个要塞当时正处于一个名叫猛敏那的人类管治之下。这个猛敏那被任命为那里的龙骑将，尽管投德对此抱有异议。后来艾瑞阿卡斯向投德透露，在这件事上他没有其他的选择。他必须提拔孟敏那是因为他欠猛敏娜的钱。艾瑞阿卡斯将投德送到那里去密切关注他的动向。
Toede arrived in Pax Tharkas to find it in a state of chaos. Poor Verminaard admitted to Toede that he was in over his head and he hoped that Toede had come to help him. Toede magnanimously agreed to do so, for the good of the cause. The humble hob was determined to remain in the background, however, and so Verminaard kept up the facade that he was the ruler of Pax Tharkas, when it was actually Toede who made all the important decisions. In the end, however, Verminaard began to think he could run things on his own. Toede was growing increasingly frustrated with Verminaard's failure to conquer Abanasinia and so Toede left Pax Tharkas to accept the title of Fewmaster, a title which placed him
directly over Lord Ariakas in the chain of command. (Not many people knew this.)
投德到达帕克塔卡斯时发现那里完全是一团糟。可怜的猛敏那向投德承认这已经超出了他能力的范围并希望投德是来帮助他的。投德为了全局着想，宽宏大量的同意了。但是谦逊的大地精决定在幕后施以援手，这样猛敏那就可以在表面上维护他作为帕克塔卡斯的统治者的形象。实际上，所有重要的决定都由投德做出。但是到后来，猛敏那自以为可以处理一切问题。投德对于猛敏那在征服阿班尼西亚问题上的屡次失败感到沮丧，因此离开了帕克塔卡斯去接受“少数之主”这一头衔。（译者：Fewmaster为双关。作为头衔，意为少数之主，作为其名字时意为“啥也不会”。）这一头衔直接使他在指挥体系中处于艾瑞阿卡斯大君的上级地位。（知道这个的人不多。）
Fewmaster Toede was told to take over the highly strategic town of Solace, which he did, defeating and utterly destroying five Solamnic armies that stood in his way, as well as any number of silver and golden dragons. In addition, it was Fewmaster Toede who was responsible for driving the elves out of Qualinesti, defeating a massive elven army that numbered sixty thousand strong along with any number of silver and gold dragons. As a reward, Toede was made a Dragon Highlord, taking over command from the late Verminaard, whose dying words were: "I should have listened to Toede!"
少数之主投德被指派去占领军事重镇索拉斯。在这次战役中他击败并彻底消灭了五支企图阻止他的索兰尼亚军队，以及数量众多的银龙和金龙。另外，能将精灵驱逐出奎林纳斯提都是修马斯特投德的功劳——他击败了一支由六万人及无数银龙和金龙组成的的精灵大军。作为奖赏，投德代替已故的猛敏那成为龙骑将。猛敏那的临终遗言是：“我本该听投德的！”
Lord Toede continued to distinguish himself in the service of his mother, Queen Takhisis. Near the end of the War of the Lance, all the armies of the sides of the both Darkness and Light laid down their weapons and watched in awe as Lord Toede fought in single combat against the god, Paladine. Wielding a magical lance forged in the heart of Mt. Nevermind, Toede wounded the god severely and was on the verge of forcing Paladine back into the Ethereal Plane when, as cruel fate would have it, Toede’s current lover, an elf maid named Laurana, distracted him with her piteous pleas not to get himself killed, so that he missed his throw, thus allowing the god, Paladine, to flee to safety. Subsequently, Paladine and other so-called heroes—really a rag-tag group of barflies who got lucky—would bring about the fall of Neraka and the defeat of the Dark
Queen.
“I blame myself,” Toede would later say.
投德大君继续在为母亲塔克西斯女王服务的过程中争取到越来越多的功绩。在长枪战争快结束的时候，黑暗和光明两方的军队都放下手中的兵器，敬畏的观看投德大君与天神帕拉丁的单挑。挥舞着一把在别管它山脉的核心制造出来的魔法长枪，投德严重的创伤了帕拉丁，几乎就将他逼回以太位面。但就在这时候，残酷的命运占了上风。投德当时的恋人，一个叫做罗拉娜的精灵少女，哀怨的乞求他不要在战场上牺牲，从而干扰了他。因此投德一击不中（译者：miss his throw，双关，也可以译为他投骰失败……），而天神帕拉丁也就此逃到了安全的地方。随后，帕拉丁以及所谓的英雄们——其实是一群由酒鬼组成的走运的乌合之众——导致了奈拉卡的陷落以及黑暗之后的失败。
“我只能责备自己。”投德后来如是说。
