Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 shatteredtower Feb 09, 2005 2:06:38	In the middle of the city, not far from the marketplace, stands the Temple of Ordemetrex. A sanctuary to one and all, it is the most sacred place within the city walls. The priests lend a kind, impartial ear to whosoever needs one, although donations are welcome in return for a priest's time - even they need to eat. ============================================== OoC: The priests will cast spells for PCs, but only on site, and, unless the spell is a cure spell, only with 24 hour notice. Injured characters can get their wounds tended to here, but will only receive magical healing once per 24 hour period from the temple. If no DM is available, assume average healing rates and costs as follows:
#2 zombiegleemax Mar 07, 2005 22:09:00	"Oh ho ho! Hello, young woman! Nanashi has a question for you!" "Like, okay then. Where is he?" "He is standing here before you!" "Is he, like, invisible?" "Oh ho ho! That would be a very good trick, but no! Nanashi has no reason to hide!" "Then, like, you must be Nanashi!" "Oh ho ho! You are very perceptive!" "Y'know, not many people pick up on that so quickly. You must like be pretty perceptive yourself. What's your question?" Nanashi can tell that this woman is more formidable than she seems! He will have to watch himself around her. "Nanashi is a great and powerful sorcerer! Where can he go to find those who need the aid of one like him?" "Like, y'know, you talk kind of funny." "Nanashi will try to improve his accent some other time! Can you answer his question?" "Have you, like, been to the Hightower yet?" "Yes! Nanashi even persuaded them to give him a license!" See how proudly he holds the license before him! Despite their tricks, they could not keep Nanashi from his prize! "And what did they say?" "Nanashi did not ask them. He doesn't want them knowing how soon their competition will be ready! Oh ho ho!" She smiles! VERY perceptive, this one. Be careful, Nanashi! "I think like I know just the place. Have you been to Natala's shop?" "Nanashi has never heard of this Natala!" "How long has Nanashi been here?" VERY perceptive indeed. "Since yesterday." "Well, there you go. Now, like, if you just..." Perceptive she may be, but she is not so good at giving out directions! Nanashi even has to ask her to repeat some things before he is ready to try to find this place. Oh ho ho! And he is ready now!
#3 kywyn Mar 11, 2005 21:14:17	Kywyn takes a quick walk to the Temple, pausing to watch the wind blowing leaves across the street. He approaches the building by way of a path skirting around the graveyard. The outline of the imposing building casts a long and deep shadow on the ground. Kywyn stalks slowly toward the front doors. "Nice cage for the Mother, eh, little frog?" Kywyn rebukes himself, "Too harsh... they do good things here..." With the coins left over from Ulerian and Natala's exchange, the raven-haired man searches for a cleric to make a small donation for the children's school. After leaving his instructions quietly, he turns to leave. His off-white outfit reflects the sunlight streaming down through the stained windows from above, giving him almost an aura of incandescence. Kywyn squints until he passes into the shade of the foyer. Outside again, he looks back at the structure, then around at the adjacent buildings and busy streets, filled with people going about their business. "Nice cage for ourselves, eh, little frog?" he whispers in an obscure susurrus. With a faint ribbit accompanying him, Kywyn heads back home to prepare for the next day's trek.
#4 zombiegleemax Jun 22, 2005 22:02:14	Shae runs from the apartment to the Temple. She stops just inside the doors, catching her breath for just a moment before calling for her son and trying to get to him. Stopped by one of the priests, she hurriedly explains to him what's happened and that she needs her son now. Seeing Dak, she struggles not to cry again, knowing she needs to get to Kywyn and crying will just waste more time. Wrapping her son in her arms, she explains only that his father needs help and she has to go to him, then she rushes him out to the graveyard and disappears with him. The elf appears alone, as soon as she has assurrances that he'll be looked after, taking off for Natala's store once again. [To NMS p31]
#5 shatteredtower Jun 26, 2005 15:16:33	(OoC: Posted on behalf of Boirin and Natala) Natala enters the temple in haste, the injured Boirin following in her wake. The shopkeeper's apparent sense of purpose quickly draws attention and the attending priest moves quickly toward her. "Our Mother's blessing upon you, Sister Natala. How may we assist you today?" For a moment, it seems as though Natala will interupt, but she holds his tongue until he's finished speaking, then takes care to respond properly. "Our Mother's blessing upon you, Brother Armin. Boirin and I are here to see Father Thessle in a matter of some urgency, so if you'll please excuse us..." "Was he expecting you, then, sister?" Natala almost imperceptibly grinds her jaw before replying. "In truth, no, but..." "Then it's going to have to wait. Father Thessle is currently engaged in--" "--important business, certainly," impatience and need winning out over courtesy, especially after having just been interupted herself. "Is it a matter of life and death, however, brother?" "It... could be," the priest ventures hesitantly, "if neglected long enough." "Time is a luxury I don't have, brother. This man needs assistance that is beyond my abilities and he needs it quickly, before the curse that has befallen him proves fatal -- to himself and perhaps, by extension, to several others as well." It looks as though she is going to say more, but she changes her mind and resumes her course toward Thessle's chambers. "Perhaps I could help inste--" "Brother Armin, I know you mean well, but I have already done all I can for this man, and it simply hasn't been enough. Perhaps our Mother would allow you to succeed where I have failed. However, at a time like this, I need as much certainty of success as I can find, which means I must have Father Thessle's assistance. It won't take long -- less time than this conversation has, in fact. Now, please..." "Are you certain this is necess--" "If it wasn't, I'd have tended to it myself. I'll tell Father Thessle that you did your best to stop me but that I couldn't be dissuaded from my task. You know that's going to be the case anyway, so please save us all a lot of time and trouble and let me do what needs to be done." For several moments, the two priests do nothing but focus on one another, revealing nothing of their thoughts in their expressions. Then Armin nods and stands aside, and Natala continues to her destination.
#6 zombiegleemax Jun 26, 2005 17:13:52	Boirin looks over at Natala. "What was all that about? Don't they provide healing here? I thought thats what they do? Boirin asks quizically, puzzled at a priest resistance to providing aid.
#7 shatteredtower Jun 26, 2005 20:33:31	"It's part of the calling, yes," Natala answers, sounding slightly annoyed, "but this is a special situation. I need specific assistance in your case." Knocking on a door, she enters when bid to do so, bringing them both into a room heavy with the scent of rich incense. They see the high priest of the church off to their left, kneeling over an altar upon which rests a warhammer. "Sister Natala," Father Thessle says, though he neither rises nor turns to greet them. "It is good to see you well, but this really isn't the best time." "Ordemetrex taught us that the best time--" "--is when we're needed," Thessle finishes for her. "All right. What seems to be the matter?" "Father Thessle, this is Boirin. He and several others ran into some undead creature in the sewers earlier today. Of that group, he is the only one to have returned, but not unscathed. It has cursed him with a condition that will slowly destroy his body. My attempts to remove this curse were unsucessful, which is why I require your assistance. If he had more time, I would tend to the matter myself, but his assistance is needed to recover those he was forced to leave behind." Thessle sighs. "I see. Can't it wait for just a day? My work here is rather important and relevant to the situation." "Again, father, if it could, I wouldn't need to come to you. One of the... bereaved will not wait. Considering the power of the one who defeated Boirin and his companions, she may be right not to do so. Their foe was also a spellcaster of some power." "Natala..." Thessle says carefully, "are you telling me that there's another lich in the city?" "I can't say for certain what it is," Natala replies, "only that it's undead, still at large under the city, and capable of using magic. The sooner they can find it, the less danger it will pose." The high priest closes his eyes. "Will you be going with them?" he asks Natala. She hesitates before replying. "It would be best that I did. They're likely to need my help." Thessle studies her carefully before he speaks again. "You're going to have to tell me everything you find afterward." "Agreed." "And you'll need to compensate me for this interuption. You've set me back a day and materials with this request." "I can't return the day to you, but I will cover the cost of everything else." "Then let's hope I can afford the day. Boirin, is it? Let me see what I can do for you... ah, here we go..." Boirin recognizes something within his words and gestures as familiar from Natala's previous efforts, but only in a vague sense. The older man lays a gentle hand on his forehead and Boirin feels as though a great weight had just been lifted from his heart. "It is done," Thessle says. "You should be able to tend to him without further assistance on my part, Sister Natala." "Thank you, father. This will take just a few moments, Boirin..." Natala offers a series of short prayers, laying a hand gently on Boirin's head three times over the course of her chanting. He finds breathing a lot less difficult by the end of the process, but still the visions of what he has seen today cloud his thoughts. "Please wait for me outside, Boirin," she tells him. "I'm just going to settle accounts with Father Thessle and then we'll return to the shop." (OoC: Natala casts three spells: remove disease (successful), lesser restoration (Boirin is at full Constitution, but is still suffering from his Charisma penalty), and cure light wounds (Boirin is at full hit points). Her funds have been adjusted accordingly. Boirin, you may assume that she's out of the office after a short interval and make your way back to the shop together -- or you may choose to part ways and tend to any business you need to focus on before returning to the shop again.)
#8 zombiegleemax Jun 26, 2005 20:49:50	Boirin waits a few minutes for the healer to exit the office after he has left. When she comes out he looks at her releived. "Thank you for your help, we will probably need your help down there, I hadn't thought you had volenteered for this." Not waiting for her responce he continues. "Now my papi, used to have a saying about deaders, 'When you fight 'em, remember ya need ta bring something that will crush their bones, like a hammer or a mace.' My enounter in the last couple days seems to justify this, I will be going to the Armory to grab a mace, I'll meet you at the Silver Sword, we shouldn't tarry too much longer here." "That thing down there, probably thinks that I won't be back for days, and I'll be weak, I think speed might be our greatest ally." "I will see you at the Silver Sword." Boirin gives her a short, reverent bow. And turns around heading for the front entrance, heading towards the armory.
#9 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2005 21:54:41	"One choice leads to another," Natala says cryptically to the man before her. She adds: "And the Master of the Underworld may know more than you think." She returns Boirin's bow with a slight one of her own, and makes a brief stop at her shop to make her own preparations before joining the others at the Silver Swords' guildhall.
#10 zombiegleemax Oct 09, 2005 17:08:34	Gilgiga opened the glass jar and removed a spoonful of oily, dried love apples. He spreads them across a few weat biscuits then returns the lid to the jar. He opens the notebook and looks at even more crptyic numbers. He was starting to see the pattern but why would red become more and more common while the white was dwindleing. Really the only fluctuations were in pink and red, the white were almost gone. But why did these flowers mean so much as to take notes this detaled on them. Gilgiga pondered the puzzle as he poped a tomato covered cracker into his mouth. .oO(There's a pattern here, the red trumps white, createing pink. Red trumps pink, createing not dark pink, but red. Pink trumps white half the time creating pink, or perhaps white. There's a pattern in the flowers, it's as if the mother puts something in each flower that tells it how to make half of the next.) He eats another part of his lunch, then chuckles as he looks at a close up sketch of the flower and pollen. "There is something that tells it what to make." He says aloud, and enjoyed his lone revlation in the crowded shack.
#11 lucian_r_dup Oct 13, 2005 1:58:59	Before entering Lucian removes his holy symbol from its pouch and hangs it from his belt. He smiles quietly before entering, his task is grim but he feels at home here. He approaches the front desk slowly and preforms a light bow. "Excuse me."
#12 shatteredtower Oct 18, 2005 7:06:05	"Yeah?" Clarice says in reply to the half-elf.
#13 lucian_r_dup Oct 18, 2005 12:50:39	Lucian pauses to think about how to word his question. "My name's Lucian. Recently, two of my companions were killed in the course of our work. I think that they're being kept here until we can make arrangements. To help determine what they want to have done, I was wondering if it would be possible to speak with them." He pauses It's something I cant do myself."
#14 shatteredtower Oct 19, 2005 10:36:08	"Well, like, they're dead, right? Like, the body might remember things the soul left behind, but like the soul itself is gone, y'know? So they can't tell you what y'wanna know, but they can, like, tell you what they knew. Or someone can try to ask Ordmetrex directly, but that's, like, way more expensive, because of, y'know, what it takes out of a priest. And, like... few of us can do that anyway." Clarice smiles reassuringly. "So, like, will you need to know what they want or only just what they wanted? 'Cause the dead don't always see things the same as they did when alive. And, like, if that's true, maybe they wouldn't want the same thing if they came back to life." As Lucian watches, Clarice takes on an unfocused look. Whoa. That was pretty deep..."
#15 lucian_r_dup Oct 19, 2005 17:00:33	Lucian looks into her eyes trying to see what really lies behind them. There seems to be much behind them that is disguised by the cheery face. "It seems like thier dying wish would be with their bodies. I think that's what I'll do." He cocks his head to the side slightly. "Would the prayers of the Mother's faithful have an effect on those that were faithful to Thalos or Demmion?
#16 shatteredtower Oct 19, 2005 22:05:04	"I don't see why not," Clarice answers. "I think she still, like, talks to both of her sons from time to time anyway. Family's family, right?"
#17 lucian_r_dup Oct 20, 2005 1:40:05	Lucian looks at her uncertainly, he knows the xpression but really doesn't understand it. "I.. alright then. Their names were Jace Cornwall and Kai...." .oO(Come on now Lucian) ..Kai. " He looks up uncertainly at her, unsure of what to say.
#18 shatteredtower Oct 20, 2005 15:39:02	"It's okay. A person's more than a name, right? I mean, like, mine's Clarice, but like what does that really tell you about me, right?"
#19 lucian_r_dup Oct 20, 2005 15:50:42	"They are, but it is something." .oO(I spent too much time being afraid of him to get to know him.) He shakes the thoughts away. "When would it be possible for the prayer to be cast? I know it's short notice, but we reallt dont plan for these things."
#20 shatteredtower Oct 20, 2005 16:02:09	"Fer sure. But you're not just talking about a prayer, right? Like, what you want is to speak with them or their memories, right? 'Cause it'll take like a day to set that up."
#21 lucian_r_dup Oct 20, 2005 16:07:13	"Yes... I've always thought of them as prayers. It's just the first time I've said it out loud. Is there any time that would be best tommorow?"
#22 shatteredtower Oct 20, 2005 23:18:33	"Well, if they had like a favourite time of day, that would be good. If you don't know then maybe before sunrise, when it's still, like, quiet here."
#23 lucian_r_dup Oct 21, 2005 0:38:16	Lucian nods. "Before the dawn sounds right, when night seems the darkest. I will see you again tommorow morning." He twirls his walking stick akwardly. "After this, I hope... No.. I would like to talk with you about something different, about the faith. That is if you wouldn't mind." He smiles. "Until then, Mother keep you well Clarice." The theif sketches a quick bow on the way out.
#24 lucian_r_dup Oct 21, 2005 1:42:56	Lucian approaches the desk slowly, enjoying the quiet aura of peace within the building.
#25 thosar_lueque Oct 25, 2005 18:08:17	*The elf walks into the entry hall of the temple and glances around spotting the woman seated behind a desk. He walks over and addresses her.* .oO(It feels somewhat strange to be in here again after all of my personal study. I wonder why...) "Excuse me. I was wondering if it would be possible to participate in a session of worship." *The woman behind the counter gets a strange look for a moment and then smiles.* "Well, like yeah. That's sorta what we're here for." *The elf smiles.* "Of course. Thank you." *He nods and then proceeds on into the main chapel, dropping 5 gp in the donation box as he passes it.*
#26 thosar_lueque Oct 26, 2005 1:34:35	*Sitting in the back of the chapel Thosar listens to the various prayers and songs which are shared about his deity. After a while he begins to relax and let the worship service flow into him, his eyes fixed on the holy symbol hanging at the head of the room.* . o O(Thy balance is in all things, Mother. Thy servants seek Thee and Thy council through prayer and song. Balance is what some seek, while others seek to guide Thy balance with clumsy hands. My eyes are not shut to these things.) *Becoming somewhat entranced by the scene and his meditation the elf stays for many services.*
#27 shatteredtower Nov 06, 2005 16:49:40	Lucian approaches the desk slowly, enjoying the quiet aura of peace within the building. An elderly gnome in clerical vestments greets Lucian in the morning silence. "Good morning. Were you in need of assistance?"
#28 lucian_r_dup Nov 06, 2005 21:16:17	Lucian nods. "Yesterday I arranged to communicate with the dead., Jace Cornwall and Kai."
#29 shatteredtower Nov 06, 2005 23:40:33	"Ah, that was you," says the gnome. "Where are the bodies being kept?" OoC: Jace's corpse is being held by the Jackals and thus unavailable.
#30 lucian_r_dup Nov 07, 2005 2:07:48	"Kai is being kept here, but I think Jace is being kept at the Jackal compund."
#31 shatteredtower Nov 07, 2005 12:54:36	"Well, then, let's go see to your... was he a relative?" the gnome asks, limping slightly as he walks across the temple floor.
#32 lucian_r_dup Nov 08, 2005 1:14:31	Lucian shakes his head as he follows the gnome at a respectful distance. "No, he was a very close friend."
#33 shatteredtower Nov 08, 2005 1:27:02	The gnome stops to look at Lucian oddly for a moment, then shrugs and continues to lead the way. The cellars seem to possess an almost unnatural chill. Is it just Lucian's imagination, or is it worse in the cell to which he's lead at last? A shrouded figure lies on a low table against the far wall.
#34 lucian_r_dup Nov 08, 2005 12:48:18	Lucian sighs quietly as he arrives at the cell, breathing out a little cloud of steam. He hugs his arms around himself. "How many questions will I be able to ask?"
#35 shatteredtower Nov 08, 2005 18:46:19	"Up to four," the gnome tells him. "Do you have them firm in your mind? It would be best for us to review them before we do this. Tell me exactly what you want asked."
#36 zombiegleemax Nov 09, 2005 2:33:15	The lazy hum of bees passes by as Daleah enters the garden. She doesn't see anyone around so she crouches down to have a closer look at the flowers planted by a tree. The flowers are white with yellow centers and kind of woody in the stems. They sure look like elderflowers to her.
#37 zombiegleemax Nov 09, 2005 2:45:59	"Look out below," A voice cries out from above Daleah, and is qucikly followed by the sound of a crashing limb falling out of the tree. Just narowly missing the red headed warrior. Looking up would reveal that in the tree was a half orc with an wood saw, just before him is the base of the severed limb. The Half orc then lowers himself by one arm then drops to the gound without ceremony. "You better watch out, the next orc you see in a tree may not be just droping limbs." Gilgiga picks up an end of the limb and starts to drag it away when he catches a better look at the girl. "I haven't seen you in awhile." He then drags the limb off to a fire pit not to far away.
#38 zombiegleemax Nov 09, 2005 18:43:56	The familiar voice startles her. The paladin ducks away from the falling limbs and follows a few steps behind Gilgiga, brushing the pieces of bark and dust from her face and hair.. "Yeah, long time no see. Well, believe it or not I was just on my way down the road and as I was walking by I happend to notice these flowers by your tree." She stands there watching as he hadles the limb. "They look very simular to the elderflowers used to make wine and also salve for horses."
#39 zombiegleemax Nov 09, 2005 21:32:12	"They look the same, but real elderflowers grow on a shrub. I don't believe I have any alive, but I know I have some flowers and berries in the garden shack if you need any." Gilgiga says throwing the limb into the pit. "You can have some if you need it for the salve, not nearly enough to make your own wine. Anyways you can get that wine cheeper at other places in the city."
#40 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 10:22:15	"I don't need the wine just the salve." She watches him throw the limb in the pit. "That would be wonderful. I don't really care to go to the Market Place as it seems to busy this time of day. Besides, by making my own salve it should cost too much." She looks around the temple garden. "I could work off the price of the flowers or maybe find some sort of trade with you."
#41 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 12:03:26	"Follow me," Gilgiga gestures to the other side of the garden as he heads over there himself. "There is no need for payment." Gilgiga disapears into the small shack, then qucikly returns with a small urn full of the pungnant herb and a bit of ink on his finger. "If you could, I would like the urn back sometime, I always seem a little short." Gilgiga pauses for a moment. "Perhaps I will ask for a small payment"
#42 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 18:48:23	{From Sewer Adventure} Shae, with help, gets Kywyn to the temple. Thanking the person who helped her, she insists on coming back with Kywyn, getting help from one of the clerics. Once Kywyn is settled, she lays beside him, not caring if they are both dirty.
#43 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 18:57:16	Boirin lays the corpse down, and watches as NaShae fusses and lies with the dead. Mildly disturbed Boirin pulls back out to the temple proper. .oO(No wonder she was trying to try and kill me to when she got the news. He must have been alot to her.)
#44 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 19:03:31	Boirin's mind plays over what has happenend in the last few days. Hes seen people die, almost died himself, and lost some toes he was, well pretty attached to. .oO(So this is my life, I either sell people booze or people try to kill me. What a meaningful life! Spose its better than mining though. I need to get out of these clothes.)
#45 shatteredtower Nov 11, 2005 19:27:25	"Excuse me, miss elf," says one of the acolytes attending to Kywyn, "but we'll need a day to prepare the body for the funeral and cremation. Is there anything in particular you'll want the presiding priest to mention at the ceremony? Any sort of gesture you'd like to have included in the farewell?"
#46 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 19:35:15	Shae sits up and snarls at the cleric, though it's obvious she can't see where the cleric stands. Her useless eyes narrow, "There will be no funeral or cremation. You will bring back my lifemate."
#47 shatteredtower Nov 11, 2005 21:06:08	"That isn't... we..." the young human fumbles about before finding a way to complete his thought. "It is for the Mother to decide such things, not us." "Do you know of some cause for why She might allow this one to return?" another asks. "The balance between life and death cannot be disturbed li-- excuse me, I mean to say it is not enough to ask for the ones we've lost to be returned to us. Our Mother must also endure loss, so it will take something more to sway her. What was he doing before he died? That might have some bearing on the matter."
#48 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 21:55:10	"Follow me," Gilgiga gestures to the other side of the garden as he heads over there himself. "There is no need for payment." Gilgiga disapears into the small shack, then qucikly returns with a small urn full of the pungnant herb and a bit of ink on his finger. "If you could, I would like the urn back sometime, I always seem a little short." Gilgiga pauses for a moment. "Perhaps I will ask for a small payment" Daleah follows him and takes the elderflowers with a sigh of relief. "Sure, glad to repay the favor. What do you have in mind?"
#49 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 22:09:35	"That is it exactly, a favor, I would like you to owe me a favor." Gilgiga pauses a moment. "If that would be alright with you?"
#50 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 22:25:27	"Sounds good to me. You are doing me a great favor giving me these flowers. That is less i have to spend on salve and I know the quality of it if I make it myself. Ok, I'll owe you a favor. " She extends her hand to seal the deal.
#51 zombiegleemax Nov 11, 2005 23:12:15	Gilgiga takes the woman's hand and firmly shakes it. "Let us hope that I need to claim it.
#52 zombiegleemax Nov 12, 2005 7:26:37	"That isn't... we..." the young human fumbles about before finding a way to complete his thought. "It is for the Mother to decide such things, not us." "Do you know of some cause for why She might allow this one to return?" another asks. "The balance between life and death cannot be disturbed li-- excuse me, I mean to say it is not enough to ask for the ones we've lost to be returned to us. Our Mother must also endure loss, so it will take something more to sway her. What was he doing before he died? That might have some bearing on the matter." Shae waves her hand as if to dismiss what the cleric is saying, "Yes, yes, I know that. Just get him ready for that." Her face turns back to Kywyn, "He was in the sewer fighting some undead thing. Something called, Elderath or Elderoth."
#53 shatteredtower Nov 12, 2005 10:43:45	This provokes startled responses from the attendants, who look uneasily to one another. "All right," one says. "Er, there is the matter of how much it costs to..." "Not now!" hisses another. "Milady, your pardon. We'll see to the care of your beloved until it's time. You'll want to discuss the rest with Father Thessle. He's not... we'll send for him." As one of the other acolytes rushes off, he says, "He'll be able to tell you what you need to know better than anyone."
#54 zombiegleemax Nov 12, 2005 16:49:40	NaShae lays again beside, Kywyn, "Unless there is a problem, let me stay here a moment. I would need help getting home anyway. I know it will cost quite a bit. We've helped bring people back before. I'm not sure that I will have the help this time, though." She gently, tentatively, reaches to touch his face, as if she'll hurt him if she accidently pokes or scratches him, whispering to him in elven.
#55 shatteredtower Nov 12, 2005 17:41:57	"Of course," the second acolyte, a blond youth, offers. "If you need someone to bring you home... when you're ready, of course... we can make arrangements for an escort. But please... take your time. I can imagine... no, no I suppose I can't imagine how hard this is for you."
#56 zombiegleemax Nov 12, 2005 21:56:50	Gilgiga takes the woman's hand and firmly shakes it. "Let us hope that I need to claim it. Daleah nods, shaking back. "Sure thing." The paladin turns and waves to Gilgiga on her way back out of the garden to the road leading through Garic's City.
#57 zombiegleemax Nov 13, 2005 12:37:44	Long since having stopped paying attention to the cleric, Shae's exhaustion pulls at her. Knowing that they are both safe, she quickly falls asleep waiting on the head priest.
#58 zombiegleemax Nov 13, 2005 13:03:14	Burleg helps bring the bodies to the temple. He stands around inside uncomfortably. His attention has gone from saving the bodies, to the treasure he's found, to his next mining excavation. His absentmindedness is obvious. He scratches his beard and stares off in glimmering thoughts until addressed.
#59 shatteredtower Nov 13, 2005 13:08:17	NaShae feels someone shake her. An older male voice speaks to her. "I hope you'll pardon me for disturbing you," the man says gently, "but I'm certain this matter is as urgent to you as to us. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask some difficult questions, but everything I learn might make it easier for me to help you both. But first, could you use something to eat? I'm sure this has taken a lot out of you by now."
#60 zombiegleemax Nov 13, 2005 14:30:26	Shae blinks awake. Sitting up quickly, her eyes track the room as if she's trying to focus on who is there. Realizing it's one of the priests, she calms slightly, "I could use a rest and a bath. But that and the food can wait." She sits beside Kywyn, staring into space, "What questions did you want to ask?"
#61 shatteredtower Nov 13, 2005 14:54:51	"I need to know exactly how he died. Can you describe what killed him and how?"
#62 zombiegleemax Nov 13, 2005 15:01:40	Shae shakes her head, "I wasn't there. I was told the creature hit him once and it killed him. I only felt it. I still don't know what killed him. Just that his name was Elderoth, I think. Maybe Eldeross? No, that doesn't sound right." She shrugs, "We fought him in the sewer trying to retrieve Kywyn and some others."
#63 shatteredtower Nov 13, 2005 15:36:28	"I see," the voice tells her. "The reason I ask is because I was told he was fighting undead. Those who fall in such a struggle occasionally rise to join their unliving ranks. However, this usually occurs very quickly: within a minute. There are exceptions, but I can assure that there is no danger of that occuring within these walls. No, the problem now is that it can make the process of reviving him more difficult. "When you felt him die... roughly how long ago was that?"
#64 zombiegleemax Nov 13, 2005 15:46:25	Shae frowns, then shakes her head, "It feels like days ago, but it must have only been hours. When the school was going on here. I came to get our son, Dakari, not long after I felt it." She shrugs, "I can't see now, so I cannot even guess the time that's passed."
#65 shatteredtower Nov 13, 2005 16:14:33	"You... Mother Ordemetrex, how did I miss that? Of course. When did you lose your sight?"
#66 zombiegleemax Nov 13, 2005 16:28:22	"When I was retreiving Kywyn," she frowns, "Other than that, I can't tell you more about how long ago it was." She reaches for Kywyn's hand, just to hold something, "I believe the thing that killed him, blinded me."
#67 shatteredtower Nov 13, 2005 16:41:25	"Hmm... well, we can also attend to your blindness in time. Is there anyone else who might know more, anyone who was with him when this happened? I can look into the name you mentioned, but if you can describe him, that might help also."
#68 zombiegleemax Nov 13, 2005 17:09:57	NaShae shrugs and waves off the the comment about her blindness, "I'll get that taken care of when I get him back. I'm sure I don't have the money for both." She nods, "Boirin was with him. That was the person who helped bring Kywyn here. He also went with me to retreive Kywyn, as well as a few others. They maybe able to help you more with the description."
#69 shatteredtower Nov 13, 2005 18:52:40	"Yes. Thank you. All right. There's the matter of the..." The voice hesitates. "...cost, as you know. The ceremony, including the required sacrifice, comes to... just a moment, and I can give you an exact figure... 5260 gold. If it will take you more than a week to gather that, it will be necessary to arrange for another 40 gold for each additional three days, in order to maintain the... uh, the link between the body and... the departed's spirit."
#70 zombiegleemax Nov 14, 2005 11:00:37	Shae nods, "Hopefully it shouldn't take that long. I'll have to sell something, but I should have the money within two days or so."
#71 lucian_r_dup Nov 14, 2005 16:04:19	"Up to four," the gnome tells him. "Do you have them firm in your mind? It would be best for us to review them before we do this. Tell me exactly what you want asked." Lucian takes a moment to think before responding. "Please, ask him if he wished to be returned from the living. If he doesn't, please ask if there was anyone that he wished to be notified of his death. What he wanted said and what he wished done with his affects. He sighs. "If he does, please ask him if there was anyone who might contribute.
#72 shatteredtower Nov 14, 2005 19:42:39	The gnome silently repeats what he hears, lips moving over Lucian's words. "That works. I don't know what you can expect, but no matter. That's up to him. Now if you could just move the shroud off his face, so his voice won't be muffled, I'd appreciate that. And I'll have to ask for your patience and for no interuptions for the next few minutes, as this ritual takes some time to perform." While Lucian performs the task, the gnome begins a long, repetitious chant. Heavy syllables seem to fill the air as he gestures toward the sky, the earth, and Kai's remains. This continues for quite some time. Finally, the gnome turns to Lucian and says, "All right, let's see what he has to say. "You there! Did you have any reason to continue on with your life?" The distorted grin on Kai's face moves in disturbing fashion as the corpse struggles to reply. "Revenge... finished. Anaya? No. Revenge. Life can wait. There is still... another... debt of blood." The gnome gives Lucian a disgusted look. "I'll be taking that as a 'No,' shall I?" he asks the half-elf. ~~~ Shae nods, "Hopefully it shouldn't take that long. I'll have to sell something, but I should have the money within two days or so." "All right. We shall may the preparations and keep him safe until then. How might I find Boirin and the others?"
#73 zombiegleemax Nov 14, 2005 20:15:36	: P
#74 lucian_r_dup Nov 14, 2005 22:32:49	Lucian thinks for a moment. "Please ask him whom the debt was owed. I'll deal with the affects when I know who he wants notified"
#75 shatteredtower Nov 14, 2005 22:40:52	The priest shrugs and asks, "To whom do you owe this debt?" "The one who took Marina from me." The gnome looks up to Lucian and says, "For you own sake, you might want to let that lie. Shall I ask about the effects now?"
#76 lucian_r_dup Nov 14, 2005 23:12:03	Lucian shakes his head. "Please ask him who he wants notified first, please and what messages he wants passed on." .oO(I will look into Marina for you Kai.)
#77 shatteredtower Nov 14, 2005 23:26:29	"That's two questions, but I'll try my best," the gnome says. "Once you've died, what would you want passed on?" "Wouldn't be my problem." The priest puts on a quizzical look, but says nothing, waiting for Lucian.
#78 lucian_r_dup Nov 15, 2005 0:03:17	.oO(Sweet Mother... Is he being this akward to spite me?) "Please ask who he wants notified of his death."
#79 shatteredtower Nov 15, 2005 7:34:06	"Who would you want informed of your death?" There is a lengthy pause. Wondering if the corpse didn't hear him, the gnome repeats, "Who-" before the reply cuts him off. "Gamis." "I hope you know who he means by Gamis," the gnome says.
#80 lucian_r_dup Nov 15, 2005 8:25:15	Lucian nods. "He might be refering to Sir Phaeberin of the Silver Sword." He looks at Kai again. "Thank you for your help."
#81 zombiegleemax Nov 15, 2005 9:06:24	Shae frowns, "I believe you know where to find Natala. Gamis and Mirielle live in the same place. I don't know about Boirin." She makes sure he knows where Gamis and Miri's house is and where she lives.
#82 shatteredtower Nov 15, 2005 15:10:32	"Thank you for your help." "Ahem," the gnome continues. "There's still the matter of the fee, of course: 98 gold." ~~~ Shae frowns, "I believe you know where to find Natala. Gamis and Mirielle live in the same place. I don't know about Boirin." She makes sure he knows where Gamis and Miri's house is and where she lives. "All right. I shouldn't have any trouble finding the place, even if I need to ask for Natala's assistance. I can always check with that adventurer's group, if needs be. They might be able to locate Boirin if I can't. "Now, can we make arrangements to see you home, or is there any place you need to go first? It's rather late, but I can arrange for a pair of the acolytes to get you there safely."
#83 lucian_r_dup Nov 15, 2005 21:07:32	"Of course." Lucian reaches into his moneybelt and removes ten smaller puches, filled with 10 gold each. "I'm sorry he was so iritable."
#84 shatteredtower Nov 15, 2005 23:55:19	"Think nothing of it, lad," the priest tells Lucian. "That wasn't him. It was only his recollections and recollection never comes easily from the dead, not even with divine assistance. Will you be wishing for a burial or the standard cremation?"
#85 zombiegleemax Nov 16, 2005 19:44:04	Boirin waits around for a few minutes, seeing if anyone he knows comes in. The preists don't come out for him, his comrades don't show up. They obviously can do without him. He shrugs his shoulders and walks towards Nobody's.
#86 lucian_r_dup Nov 17, 2005 13:29:47	"Think nothing of it, lad," the priest tells Lucian. "That wasn't him. It was only his recollections and recollection never comes easily from the dead, not even with divine assistance. Will you be wishing for a burial or the standard cremation?" "I think burial." Lucian looks back at the shrouded body.
#87 zombiegleemax Nov 18, 2005 8:54:57	NaShae shakes her head, "I have to figure out a way around on my own. I have a familiar, she can be my eyes for the time being." She calls to Palasha, who is never far from her, and carefully puts her feet on the ground. Feeling her way around, she kisses Kywyn and gently searches for Hex, putting the frog in a pocket when she finds him, "Don't worry. You'll be back with him soon enough."
#88 shatteredtower Nov 20, 2005 10:52:18	"I think burial." "Are you certain? That can be quite expensive. This fellow indicated he had no one he wished notified of his passing, so who would you be leaving a marker for?" NaShae shakes her head, "I have to figure out a way around on my own. I have a familiar, she can be my eyes for the time being." "Very well," Thessle replies, "though may I at least see you out? You might prefer to have assistance going down those stairs."
#89 zombiegleemax Nov 20, 2005 12:53:03	NaShae nods, "Thank you. I would appreciate that help." She makes sure Palasha is here, before she nods again, "I'm ready to go now."
#90 shatteredtower Nov 20, 2005 13:03:02	"All right," Father Thessle says gently. Carefully taking her arm, he guides NaShae from the building. "Well, I'll leave it to the pair of you from here. We'll have everything prepared by the time you return. Until then, may our Mother guide your steps. Farewell."
#91 lucian_r_dup Nov 20, 2005 13:38:09	"He may not have wanted may people notified of his death, but there were people who like him. Or at least spent time with him. Partially for me though."
#92 shatteredtower Nov 20, 2005 13:54:08	"Suit yourself," the gnome says to Lucian. "It's just that few people can afford the luxury. Mostly they just come here to remember."
#93 lucian_r_dup Nov 20, 2005 14:38:30	"What would the cost of the plot be?"
#94 shatteredtower Nov 20, 2005 15:09:49	"For him? At least three hundred gold for the plot, more if you're looking for something more than the most basic marker and a casket."
#95 lucian_r_dup Nov 20, 2005 15:19:00	Lucian nods, thinking. "May it be so. Will you be able to arrange it?"
#96 kywyn Nov 20, 2005 15:29:45	Hex does not fight when he is plucked from the body by NaShae. The black frog doesn't think much of anything any more. "Cemo axas ug axalo, flethol..." the thoughts become indecipherable, melding into basic drives of hunger and fear. When they leave, Hex finds long-denied sleep in the pocket of the elf woman.
#97 shatteredtower Nov 20, 2005 15:35:29	"May it be so. Will you be able to arrange it?" "Yes, I'll take care of it. Burial will be within three days, once payment is made."
#98 lucian_r_dup Nov 20, 2005 16:02:54	I will have the money in a few hours. Thank you for your help." He looks to the door. "Mind showing me the way to the exit?"
#99 shatteredtower Nov 20, 2005 17:26:17	The gnome rolls his eyes, obviously annoyed. "I'll see you upstairs," he says shortly, "but I'm sure you can find your own way out from there." OoC And Lucian does. If you've got anything to add from here, please handle it yourself.
#100 zombiegleemax Nov 20, 2005 18:09:13	Shae moves outside, Palasha on her arm. Letting her familiar guide her, she moves slowly though the graveyard, whispering, when Palasha leads her behind a statue. {To Avowed}
#101 lucian_r_dup Nov 22, 2005 0:46:59	Lucian offers a quick thanks before leaving. .oO(Pay for Kai's burial, find out what's going on with Jace and tell Gamis and Anaya about the burial. I have a busy few days ahead of me.)
#102 lucian_r_dup Nov 22, 2005 1:48:43	Lucian approaches the desk. Excuse me, I'm coming to pay for the burial and plot of Kai. Yes, here is the three hundred gold." Lucian gives the attendant the sac of coin. "If you'll excuse me. I have to arrange to notify his friends and familly." .oO(Lies again Risk. You know few people who would want to come.) He leaves the temple with a bow.
#103 kywyn Nov 30, 2005 16:50:31	The dark chamber sits tranquilly. Things are at rest, at peace, here. Almost like they could remain this way forever.
#104 zombiegleemax Dec 23, 2005 16:21:03	Gilgiga sits under a tree with a leather bound book in hand. The warm sun causes his mind to wander from the text. Instead of contemplating the wonders that the prophet Belash acompished he beguins to wonder how they could be done. He finds his meager knowledge of magic not really enough to do help him comprehend. Until now magic had been place faith in it, and it was there. Somehow he knew Belash had a greater understanding of the forces at work in a spell then Gilgiga did. Gilgiga could tell that he wasn't going to learn how to become like the prophet if he just sat there under the tree musing about what could be done. Gilgiga decided that reading about a prophet was a bad idea, and that becoming a prophet was a good one. So, Gilgiga rose to his feet and set out to get a better book.
#105 zombiegleemax Jan 01, 2006 17:09:03	Shae walks to the Temple with Hermy, hoping between them that they have enough money.
#106 zombiegleemax Jan 02, 2006 15:27:02	Having arrived earlier, Minto jumps to his feet when Hermy and NaShae enter. He moves towards Hermy frowning. "What's taken you so long? If you weren't going to show up until noon, why did I have to be here before then?" "I even skipped breakfast." He turns to NaShae and gives her a bow. "Sorry to hear about Kywyn. He was a good man." He hands Hermy the guilds magic bag, and then gives NaShae a smile. "And he will be again soon. There's almost 4000 worth of coins in that bag." He whispers to Hermy. "You owe me big time. My part of that was going to go for a mirrored coat. Those things aren't cheap. Or available." Hermy gives his bard a nod, and then smiles. "Within whats youse gots will thats be enough NaShae?"
#107 kywyn Jan 02, 2006 16:46:45	While the giants talk, the black frog crawls from NaShae's pocket, drawn by something nearby. Hex climbs up to the elf's pack and looks around, whisperings in the familiar's mind calling him this way and that.
#108 zombiegleemax Jan 02, 2006 20:23:38	Shae nods at Hermy, "That should be more than enough. And I'll pay you back as soon as the item is sold."
#109 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 03, 2006 22:11:53	"Goods" Hermy hands the bag to NaShae. "I supposes we shoulds tells Clarisse wese ready." He tilts his head towards the front desk.
#110 kywyn Jan 05, 2006 1:08:51	As the halfling turns away, Hex drops to the floor and hops across the floor like a raindrop following its path down a window pane. His trail seems random yet definitely drawn down a certain direction. As he gets closer to the source of the pull, certain things start becoming more clear to the frog. He remembers he had a name, he had a mind, he had an other... [color=olive]"Pum zint Pum'v chaxaltick te soo,"[/color] lines race across his newfound brain, words and yet not, [color=olive]"Zolo dis je oct, guo-guo."[/color]
#111 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 07, 2006 6:06:20	Hermy gives Clarice a wave. "Hey! Hi! Where's Father Cannedrum? We needs ta gets Kywyn broughts back ta life now." "His family misses him." "And we has the money fer it." The receptionist glances at Hermy, and then passed him at NaShae. "Like I think Father Thessle was handling this. I'll go get him." Hermy nods. "Thanks." He waves NaShae and the others over, when Clarise leaves. "She's gettin Father Thistle. It won'ts be long. We shoulds probably start sortin the money inta piles while we waits ta makes it easier ta count." He smiles at Dakari, and winks at Minto. "Cin ya helps me with that Doctari?"
#112 kywyn Jan 08, 2006 3:35:48	Elsewhere, Hex hops into a passage to another room. This is what he has been looking for. Cold stone after cold stone, even the temple seems like a catacomb from his low viewpoint. Memories of graveyards and moonlit nights. An old vision, older than the frog in some ways, comes to mind. The first time we were awoken, it was a trial, it was practice... It was preparing for the other one. The spectral moon disappears behind the clouds. Darkness covers the panorama. No... Not darkness... There is no darkness such as this. It is blackness. The tombstones and statues fade away. Wait... I know this part... It's a dream... It's all a dream. Open your eyes. I thought I might have lost you... But you were never really here. Open your eyes.
#113 kywyn Jan 11, 2006 15:23:55	Hex approaches the covered shape ahead. He slows to a crawl, gathering his long legs behind him before moving again. Another chirp emits from deep in the ebony frog’s throat. He passes an azure broadloom rug at the entry. The colors remind the frog of a water scene. Hex passes over softly. The sharp contrast of insulated fabric and cold stone is felt acutely by the cold-blooded creature. It reminds him to stay awake. In a sea-change, nothing is safe, nothing is sacred. In the otherwise clean temple chamber, a second shadow stirs and scurries along the line of the wall. Hex freezes, instincts telling him to hide, but his higher mind draw him forward still. His gold eyes take in the available light to spy the brown rat that must have gotten in somehow. The frog’s chirp has attracted the rodent already. The room is quiet otherwise, and the rat skulks closer, black, beady orbs eying the smaller animal.
#114 kywyn Jan 12, 2006 0:31:26	With a nervous sniffing of the air, the starved rat scampers forward to the possible prey. Hex is frozen between drives, between worlds, and the vermin's incisors snare the tiny amphibian’s left rear leg. The black skin of the familiar is tougher than it looks, and the rat cannot puncture the flesh. Hex takes the chance to kick free, slapping webbed toes across the rodent’s snout, and leaping some distance away in a series of low-angled jumps.
#115 kywyn Jan 12, 2006 10:46:38	The tiny predator nears again. Hex croaks sharply, causing the rat to flinch back. This does not deter the hungry rodent for long, and it makes a lunge forward. On reflex, the frog leaps upward and away. The rat skids to a halt and then follows the trajectory of its target. In a haze of fur and shadow, Hex is snatched up in the rat’s jaws. The animal backs away to the corner, dragging its meager meal. The dark flesh feels cool and unsavory to the brown rat's tongue, but experience tells it there should be some edible meat in the skull at least. A flap in the stomach prevents rats from vomiting, making them hesitant with strange foods. The rat would nibble a little bit, testing to see if it felt sick. A rat eats a frog. Nothing new, it’s the way of the world. [color=olive]"..."[/color] And then, he remembers he is not just a frog.
#116 kywyn Jan 12, 2006 20:58:14	We are something other... [color=olive]"Wo axalo se'mothick ethol..."[/color] Words come back to mind like dried watercolor paint that just needs a bit of moisture. Despite strong jaws, the rat cannot seem to crunch down on his mouthful. The frog is perplexingly tough. The colors become more vivid. Hex's gold eyes open again, and his body is no longer limp. Everything changes, nothing perishes. "Ovolythick staxackos, jethick doliskos." The room, the city, the world is painted. A spark of life flares back into the frog familiar.
#117 kywyn Jan 14, 2006 18:02:18	The renewed struggling catches the rat off guard, and the frog slips from its grasp. Hex vaults and lands facing the rodent. The frog's eyes are almost glowing with an amber hue now. The rat circles nervously. Saving the rat from choosing, Hex jumps up to the table where the covered form lies. With a burst of speed, the brown vermin seeks other places to scavenge. Move through the space, make yourself at home. The world is made of the same elements as you are, the particles where you end and it begins are a blurred line. Crawling again. Up to the covering shorud, beneath it to the darkness, leaving footprints in shallow snow... Remind me, dear soul, of the distance between you and I. Is it true the element between us only serves to separate now? More gibberish that hurts the frog's mind to hear, [color=olive]"Pum caxaniz saxaupp."[/color]
#118 zombiegleemax Jan 15, 2006 21:09:05	Shae heads back to where she knows Kywyn is, without the priest and not really caring that he's there. She gets back to her beloved and looks in her pack for Hex. Not finding him, she sighs, "Where did he go this time?"
#119 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 16, 2006 3:00:54	Mino taps Hermy on the shoulder, and points towards NaShae. Hermy nods. "Comes on Doctari, lets nots lose yer mom. I don'ts thinks she's seein to well yets." The two halflings and the hal-elf trail after NaShae. The receptionist moves in alongside them. "Father Thestle is like ready and waiting. I'll like just need to.." Hermy hands her the bag of money. "I'lls needs that bag back. An anythin extra afterwards. It aints all mine." Clarice nods and slips down a side hallway. The little group catches up to NaShae as she enters the room where Kywyns body rests. Father Thestle follows behind them. "If this is everyone, we can begin." He approaches the body.
#120 kywyn Jan 16, 2006 11:11:16	Father Thistle produces a number of crystal clear gems from a dark silk pouch and places them on the edges of the shroud. The diamonds gleam with the light, speaking of the souls of the earth and unknowable time that forged them. “This will be a straightforward appeal, but we must not take too lightly the weight of what we ask.” The priest stands in silent contemplation and prayer for a moment, making it seem sacrilegious for anyone else in the chamber to speak. The silence lasts another minute. Just before someone might want to risk asking a question, Father Thistle moves to the head of the covered body. He speaks softly, so that none can make out the words at first. His hands are folded together in supplication. In this category deep magic, there are powerful words beyond the speech of men; luminous words that can return life, deplorable words that can take it. The holy man switches to a tongue that sounds like the former. The first word is a humble request, not to the nebulous soul of the cold form before him, but to the soul of the world to let his next words through. <“Please.”> In common, Thistle prays gently, “To address the Mother of All is to be empty and full all at once. It is to accept limitations and realize we rise above by kneeling.” The second word is a question sent out into the great unknown to reach the one spirit it seeks. <“Want?”> “She abandons none, she forgets none. In Her gaze, all our virtues and failings are recalled, all our desires and regrets resolved.” The third and final word is directed at Kywyn’s body. <“Breathe.”> “The leaves return in the spring, the same and yet not, breathing new life into the air. She moves us all in the everlasting cycles, carrying you down from the greatest heights and up from the lowest pits as if you were never there.” Thistle lays a hand on the covered head of Kywyn and the lights flicker.
#121 kywyn Jan 16, 2006 11:16:46	Under the shroud, unseen changes reenact the fatal stroke that rendered the body useless, only in reverse. Split seams are sealed; room is made for everything that was ripped out prematurely. Piece by piece, shadows of hope creep into dried blood and pray that he survives now. Blood softens and strains to flow through veins by gravity alone. His flesh, his bones, his blood, his hate, his love, his pain… It all fights for life against the inertia of causality and logic. He is on the brink of losing everything, hanging on to every word the priest says now. You were never there. The diamonds acclerate to dust ages before their time. The shroud shirks back.
#122 kywyn Jan 16, 2006 11:18:12	A low rumble heralds the revived heartbeat. In the shadows under Kywyn’s shirt where Hex now rests, the noise is like thunder. The frog opens his eyes as the pupils contract until there are only two pools of gold. [color=olive]“Come as you are, brother.”[/color] The body lays still, pale and grave, as if it were a statue of the lithe human. Clothed in a fitted outfit of old and ragged grey, the arms and legs are still sheathed in worn metal accessories. Finally, the face shifts, recognition and longing flashing in the brown eyes before a sudden golden hue over takes them. The mouth moves in concert, spouting a low rumble of sounds that scratch at the ears of their listeners. “Zoso axalo vupp wroaxams, zaxat Pum'mo jovol rivow fobelo.” The shadows congeal around Kywyn’s arm, forming into a tendril which wavers as if made of silk. His face grows paler, or perhaps the room is growing darker. The lanterns flicker as if all light and hope are being drained. With a feral grimace, Kywyn sits up and rolls off the platform, darting for cover on all fours. The shadow with gold eyes follows the edge of the wall until he hunches in the corner. A smaller frog-shaped shadow hangs on his shoulder. Somewhere, a silken cocoon splits. A butterfly escapes, its thin glass wings painted black.
#123 zombiegleemax Jan 16, 2006 20:02:21	Shae blinks and moves slowly toward Kywyn. She reaches out, showing no fear as she backs him to the wall, "Kywyn? Beloved?"
#124 kywyn Jan 16, 2006 22:33:00	Kywyn is very still as the elf approaches, but then skitters back a bit. "Haxat..." he exhales under his breath. He brings his hands to his head, the gloomy tentacle coils in front of him as a snake ready to strike, keeping the others at bay. The tendril shifts side to side as if examining NaShae but does not move forward in any restraining manner.
#125 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 17, 2006 1:23:09	Hermy steps in front of Dakari, blocking his line of sight to his father. "Minto? Why's don'ts youse takes Doctari to see Giligan an his garden? I thinks Kywyn's woulds appreciates some flowers don'tcha think?" The bard nods and tries to lead the boy away. Hermy keeps his eyes on Kywyn and NaShae. .o0(I hopes he didn'ts comes back broke, likes Durin did. He can'ts afford ta drinks all his money aways, he's gots a family an stuff.) He glances towards the priest, and whispers. "Is this normal? He aint talkin right?"
#126 kywyn Jan 17, 2006 1:41:09	The tendril still trained on NaShae, Kywyn looks up to see the priest and the halfling talking. The newly repaired man sits up in his crouch. Father Thistle does not seem to have an answer for the halfling, "I... I can't say for certain. There is a great stress involved in this sort of process as you might imagine."
#127 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 17, 2006 1:53:09	Hermy nods. "Yeah, I cin imagine. I bunk with Minto. Comin back from the deads lots worse then gettin up before noon." He tilts his head towards the tendril. And NaShae. "I don'ts thinks he'll hurts her, but just in case, maybe ya shoulds try an remembers the words ta a spell that'll stops him." "I foughts a witch who could make me stop movin. Da ya knows that one? It didn'ts hurt me, well other then when she cuts my finger off, but it dids keep me from hurtin her."
#128 kywyn Jan 17, 2006 10:05:28	Thistle's hands are together at his chest, a shadow of doubt creeps over his face while watching the situation. Hermy's words bring the man back into the conversation. "Well, not specifically... I have asked the Mother for a restoration today. I didn't think to ask for particular restraints. Perhaps I could calm him down with a blessing, I don't know how well it would work." "But if things go poorly, I can try to establish a sanctum sanctorum here within the temple or call for help," he hand rests on a carved holy symbol at his belt, "Perhaps both." Kywyn leans forward, bent in an extremely low posture. Again he brings his hands to cradle his head and then sidles over against the wall toward the corner. The tiny shadow leaves Kywyn's shoulder, leaping to the floor in front of NaShae and beneath the wraith-like tentacle. The frog's eyes are also bright gold, but he seems calmer than before the ordeal. He cranes his head upward and chirps once.
#129 zombiegleemax Jan 17, 2006 22:10:04	Shae lays a gentle hand on the tentacle. Patiently, she walks toward him, her hand moving gently along the tendril. She moves close enough to touch him, obviously not fearing him in the least, "Kywyn, I know you're there. I know you can hear me. One time you said I saved you and by the mother, whatever I have to do, I'll do it again if it means you coming back to me. I can't live without you." She gently touches his face, laying a soft kiss on his cheek, if he lets her.
#130 kywyn Jan 17, 2006 22:29:58	The ghost tentacle hovers near her but seems powerless to impede the elf. The frog backpedals as NaShae gets closer to Kywyn. Hex chirps something to Kywyn, and the man looks up again, this time into NaShae's face. He stays still as she draw near and touches him. She can hear his breathing, ragged but becoming calmer. "Naxa’Skaxao..." he whispers into her, "Ug lomomfol vo..." Hex crawls up Kywyn's boot, then up to a favored spot on the shoulder the frog has been denied recently. From the familiar, glowing pinpoints of light observe NaShae. Kywyn slowly puts shaky arms around NaShae and stands.
#131 zombiegleemax Jan 17, 2006 22:37:17	Shae wraps her arms around Kywyn and holds him to her, gently kissing along his face, "Come. Lay back down, Kywyn. You're not back to normal."
#132 kywyn Jan 17, 2006 22:54:38	He doesn't seem to understand fully, but her words get him to stop fidgeting. Kywyn slumps back against the wall, sliding into a seated position. He keeps ahold of NaShae's hand. Even though their communion bond has been stretched thin by events, she can tell by his grip he's weak and ready to rest no matter where.
#133 zombiegleemax Jan 17, 2006 22:59:58	Unsure what to do to help, she kneels in front of him. Brushing her hand along his face, she speaks calmly to him, "Do you want to go home?"
#134 kywyn Jan 17, 2006 23:11:14	Kywyn gathers his legs up into a frog-like crouch. He looks around the room, from the high ceiling, to each wall, to Hermy and Father Thistle. He asks a question to his long lost love. Even through his garbled speech and the sharpness of the words, she can tell who he is asking about. "Daxak?..."
#135 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 18, 2006 0:17:23	Hermy whispers to the priest again. "Looks likes he aint dangerous. At least ta her." "Shoulds we gives them somes time alone?"
#136 kywyn Jan 18, 2006 9:49:30	“I suppose that would be best,” Thistle nods while whispering, “I hope we did the right thing... but the Mother’s wisdom resolves in mysterious ways. Perhaps it is not for us to question.” The priest stands just outside the doorway of the room. “If it looks like he has calmed down enough, should we keep an eye on them to see them on their way home? If he is a danger to others, we should not just let him go without supervision,” Thistle seems uncomfortable with the suggestion of surveillance or detainment.
#137 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 18, 2006 10:40:21	"I can watches him, an he'll never know." Hermy looks towards the door. "NaShae neither."
#138 kywyn Jan 18, 2006 12:49:02	Thistle nods his head, giving the impression some things are better left unsaid. "Where did your other friend go off to?" he looks down both sides of the hall.
#139 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 18, 2006 13:22:40	"I hads Minto takes Doctari somewheres safer, in case Kywyn weren't right." "He sholds be arounds here somewheres." Hermy turns around and yells out. "Hey! Minto!" He shrugs. "He's shoulds be right here. His hearins pretty good. He's a bard afterall." A few brief moments later Minto rounds the corner, Darkari in tow. "Everything going well?" "It looks likes it. So far." "I thinks it mights be a good time ta see ifen Kywyn remembers Doctari. Cause ifen he don'ts then we knowa theys somethin wrong. An dad don't forget his son." Hermy smiles at the little half-elf. "Ya ready to see yer dad?"
#140 zombiegleemax Jan 18, 2006 14:14:31	Shae smiles, her face brightening, "Dakarai is with Minto, beloved. They're nearby."
#141 kywyn Jan 18, 2006 16:24:54	Kywyn stares at NaShae; her smile is not lost on him, despite whatever is clouding his thoughts. He crawls forward, cat-like and still searching. When he reaches the platform where he lay before, Kywyn pulls himself up to stand slowly. The shadow tendril retracts back into his wrist, and the gold glint leaves his eyes. His face shows little emotion, even for him.
#142 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 19, 2006 1:34:28	Taking Dakari by the hand, Hermy leads him back into the room. "Look theres yer dad, right as rain." He does not loosen his grip on the boys hand though. "Why don'ts we waits fer him ta... well. he shoulds be.." He looks at NaShae wide eyed, then back at the boy. "Hey, theres yer mom." Minto peers through the doorway, his eyes just as full of confushion as Hermys.
#143 kywyn Jan 19, 2006 9:51:56	Dakarai walks closer, pulling away from Minto gradually. “That’s right. Fearless, remember?” Hex creeps down to the side of Kywyn’s shoulder. Kywyn shuffles closer as well. He leans down to Dak’s height and circles, sniffing the air once or twice. Hex chirps in secret speech, “That’s right. Since the moment he was born, he has been the teacher, and you, the student. He made you, as you made him. Before him, you thought the world was a puzzle to unravel, by force or subterfuge if necessary.” “After, you began to see the circles.” “Papa...” the tired child says faintly. Kywyn kneels in front of the boy. Closing his eyes for a count of three breaths, Kywyn brings an arm around Dakarai protectively, searching the shadows for some phantom assailant. With a nimble twisting motion, Kywyn slings Dak over a shoulder to carry him the way a semi-biped carries a cub.
#144 zombiegleemax Jan 19, 2006 22:40:17	Shae blinks and frowns at Kywyn, unsure of what he's doing now. She reaches for Dak, "Kywyn, let him down. You don't have the strength, yet.
#145 kywyn Jan 19, 2006 23:15:01	Kywyn starts to walk slowly but stops when he hears NaShae address him. He tilts his head questioningly when she help Dak down off his father's back. After a moment lost in thought, he reaches for NaShae's hand, almost child-like. He pats Dak on the head and smoothes out some of the half-elf child's shiny black hair. The boy touches Kywyn's hand in return.
#146 zombiegleemax Jan 21, 2006 20:04:43	Shae takes Kywyn's hand, "Let's get you home.
#147 kywyn Jan 22, 2006 3:55:23	Kywyn walks along slowly, shakily at times. When they pass Hermy and Minto, Kywyn turns to watch the halflings with an even stare. He nods slightly to no one in particular, unkempt black hair falling short of his eyes. The three family members head to the exit of the chamber. Father Thistle stands aside to make room, still touching the symbol at his side. Traveling down the stone hallway, Kywyn knows he's going home, even if he cannot remember where that is.
#148 hermy_the_hero_dup Jan 23, 2006 3:17:36	Hermy looks at Minto and shrugs. "Ise gunna be watchin Kywyn fer a bit, Somethin aint right with him." "Where will you be ifen I needs yer help?" "The Last Lich. I need to trt to make back some of the money we've spent here. If he's not right, I doubt we'll..."Hermy interupts his bard. "We cin worry abouts money later. Lets worry abouts Kywyn nots bein right now." Minto nods. "Of course." "Ifen I needs ya I'll sends word top the Lost Lich then." With that, Hermy sets out after Kywyn and family, staying as far back as he can without losing sight of them.
#149 kywyn Jan 23, 2006 10:29:49	When they exit, the sunlight causes Kywyn to stumble back in surprise, as if he has never seen the strange glowing orb in the sky. After a minute of adjustment, he moves ahead. --- [To Elsewhere]
#150 kywyn Jan 29, 2006 12:50:34	[i]I dream I am a frog, venturing out of the water for the first time. I am between the life I know and the shadowy realm above. It's the nature of amphibians to straddle two worlds.[/i] A gentle clip-clop echoes down the lane before the black phantom mount and its two dark-clad riders appear. The first is a shrouded in a grey cloak and hood, the second wears a short-cropped beard. The semi-tangible horse trots up to the side yard of the temple. Kywyn dismounts, his poncho-cloak fluttering as he descends. He looks around the darkened field, eyes penetrating the lightlessness to see flower gardens sleeping through the night peacefully. There was something below in this place as well. Kywyn could remember walking without a path.
#151 zombiegleemax Jan 29, 2006 14:54:43	Boirin slides off the horse with a soft snap of leather on pavement. He walks up behind Kywyn. He peers into the inky blackness, almost familiar to him now. The faint light shed by the moon gives him the hint of a garden, but the cold, winter breeze brings no smell of flowers. Why here? He looks over at his grey companion, but Boirin can't tell what it hides behind the mans eyes. A dozen questions rage through Boirin, Why have we come here? Is this the temple of the Mother? What is so special about this place? All the comes out is,"I have never been here before."
#152 kywyn Jan 29, 2006 17:54:10	Without supplying an answer, Kywyn starts walking forward, striding toward the side of the imposing structure. Did he hope there is something here that could slay their demons? The shadow horse walks over to graze on moonlit grass that is unmoved by the illusion. When nearer to one of the flower beds and doors, Kywyn looks back to Boirin. The shadow of Kywyn’s hood still conceals much of his face, making it hard to read a direction.
#153 zombiegleemax Jan 29, 2006 18:33:12	Boirin follows after keeping pace, but definately not leading. He has no idea where they go. Just that he is coming along. What could be here, that Kywyn needed to show him? He'd been to temples before and they provided some comfort. But what was special about this?
#154 kywyn Jan 29, 2006 19:15:00	Kywyn walks right up to the large doors, bending forward to climb the few steps. He places a gloved palm on the smooth wood but oddly doesn't try to open the door. The hooded man stares at something off to the side in the shade next to the steps.
#155 zombiegleemax Jan 29, 2006 21:35:14	"What is it?" Boirin stares off into the shadows, but his vision cannot pierce the gloom. All he sees is inky dark. There is a subtle change in his posture as his muscles ready for sudden movement.
#156 zombiegleemax Jan 29, 2006 21:43:14	"I'm not sure what you're looking for. . ." Says a gruff voice from behind them. "But if you're aiming to trespas, I don't think you'd like to find me."
#157 kywyn Jan 29, 2006 23:32:56	Kywyn spins suddenly, hunched over and staring down the newcomer. In a leap, he hops down the steps to the grass. The feral look back in his eyes, Kywyn stands slowly to observe the half-orc.
#158 zombiegleemax Jan 29, 2006 23:42:14	Gilgiga moves so that he can watch both men, keeping his knife at the ready. Gilgiga's night eyes reconize the barkeep and wonder what he would be doing with such a wildman, upon remembering which bar it was that Boirin worked at Gilgiga decided it was probably pointless to ask. His attention switches to the man on the grass. In the back of his mind he sees a painter, and the father of a child here at the church school. But the small man from his memory doesn't match the feral creature before him. "You've changed painter."
#159 kywyn Jan 30, 2006 0:04:22	Kywyn circles closer, tilting his head at Gilgiga. "Ug axalo zo kaxaldonol?" the syllables slither out as whispers that seem out of place on holy ground. The shrouded man keeps moving, as if a new angle will help him sort out the temple defender. Kywyn walks behind his shadow mount momentarily, remaining visible through the translucent image.
#160 zombiegleemax Jan 30, 2006 11:10:17	Boirin watches Kywyn very carefully. The man isn't sure what is going to happen, he recognises the orc-man, he even killed some orcs with it once. But it evedently. "He only speaks in tongues now. I can't understand him. He wants inside the temple but I don't know what he wants. He was raised here a few days ago, but something different came back."
#161 kywyn Jan 30, 2006 17:00:24	Kywyn emerges from from behind the animated diagram of a horse. The man walks toward the wide front steps again, this time with chalk in hand. Kneeling down, he draws a circle about a foot in diameter. The unhinged artist bisects the circle with a vertical line. Within each hemisphere, he draws more stright lines, delineating what must be a maze in plan view.
#162 zombiegleemax Jan 30, 2006 17:28:34	"Raised? As in from the dead?" Gilgiga sounds mildly disgusted with the idea. "I would expect this to happen when the natural order is denied." There is a low grumble from him. "It's irresponsidble, so many risks. The poor fool." He looks at the image on the ground. He thinks for a moment on what the maze could mean here. "My guess is that he want into the labyrinth. But honestly I dobut there's really more here then the catacombs, and even those aren't that deep. I know this man has a family, do they know about his current state?"
#163 kywyn Jan 30, 2006 22:10:17	Kywyn stands with his back to the two others. When he turns toward Gilgiga, Kywyn's eyes are narrowed slightly into an even stare. He walks deliberately toward the half-orc. Another low sound hisses out, "Axalo yaxa richonin'?"
#164 zombiegleemax Jan 30, 2006 22:29:36	.oO(The poor bastard, the healers meant well, but if this happens can they really not take the consiqunces. If he was raised here, and in this state, how did he get to the dwarven-wonna-be's bar?) Gilgiga stands in silent meditation of the gibersih, almost trying to understand it. The body and tone mean more here then the words, it's like working with an animal. To bad Gilgiga isn't that well off with animals. .oO(At the very least I can try to get him back into the wards) "You really want to see the labyrinth? There's nothing here. I knows the church grounds better then most. Unless you're trying to say it's somewhere inside the building?"
#165 kywyn Jan 30, 2006 22:40:58	Kywyn crosses his arms with a metallic clink of his gauntlets. He regards Gilgiga as if trying to decipher what he means. Kywyn shakes his head and starts walking along the side of the building near the vivid red and pale white flowers. He moves along the shadows of the temple's steeple.
#166 zombiegleemax Jan 30, 2006 22:59:33	Gilgiga moves without a sound behind the smaller man, hoping that he won't do anything that could prove dangerious to himself or the church. He gestures to Boirin to come along as well.
#167 kywyn Jan 30, 2006 23:34:17	Continuing to walk along side the large church, Kywyn reaches up to his hooded head every so often as if checking that it is still attached. He keeps looking up and down at the building. After reaching the end, he paces back the way he came. A cold stare is still etched on his face. A smaller shadow with gold eyes clings to Kywyn's shoulder. The frog keeps an eye on the two men behind his master.
#168 zombiegleemax Jan 31, 2006 0:04:36	Gilgiga notices that the man is going nowhere. "Would you like to go inside and rest painter? There are bound to be beds available. You can sleep the night off, and recollect your thoughts." He pleads with the man, trying to sound as sweet as the gruff groundskeeper can.
#169 zombiegleemax Jan 31, 2006 7:52:20	Boirin follows along, as near as he has to be to understand what is happening. They keep speaking of the labrynth. "Whats this labrynth? Kywyn brought me here for something, I just don't know what."
#170 kywyn Jan 31, 2006 11:45:17	Ignoring Gilgiga's voice, Kywyn stands before the entry way. His eyes take in the detailed engravings along the depressed panels of stone. He scans upward, following the first arch to its apex.
#171 zombiegleemax Jan 31, 2006 18:20:29	Gilgiga's eyes follow the sorcerer's up. "There's nothing up there but bats."
#172 kywyn Jan 31, 2006 22:04:35	Kywyn stares up, muttering to himself. He had studied these designs a time or two in the past, though it seems like a very long time ago at the moment. He grows quiet until there is no sound of breathing even. The space under the arch feels like it grows darker in the silence. It is a tunnel in Kywyn’s eyes. There is a motion in the dark man as his thoughts switch. His posture seems to have a deranged slant, perhaps lending credence to the temple orc’s opinions. The black frog climbs to a prominent spot on Kywyn’s shoulder to look up as well. The familiar knows when the mind of his other is falling. [color=olive]I dream I see two ravens circling the tower. Drops of blood on the snow, expanding to a pool of crimson. I can't recall how long I've been here, fighting shadows and demons in a ring of steel in the depths below. But up here, I can see the sky... or at least the grey clouds which shroud most everything. The spire opens at the top to a stony blossom. The snow at my feet is from above, but the blood is my own. The seeping red forms the petals of a flower around me in the snow. The clouds part; I see the sun and the moon at the same time.[/color] The shadow of the arch is suddenly not empty to Kywyn. Each dark nook contains a thing, not a being really, but something else. One shadow hides a flock of birds; another has a shooting star; and another has a strange horned gentleman dozing at his window. They could all be brought out of the shadows maybe. Kywyn’s index finger is tracing a spiral pattern from one of the engravings next to him. His artistic sorcery brings the symbol to life as a dancing white light that splits into two. They float up as Kywyn concentrates. At the summit, the keystone of the arch, the lights illuminate the unpretentious engravings there. There is a balanced scale. In one side is a circle; in the other is a crescent. Below the scale is a small incised rose. Kywyn still knows the magical significance of roses, that they stand for silence. There is a rose over his mouth he can’t quite get around. There is something in his shadow that won’t let him be complete yet. Why did he come here? To try to see inside? He knows things are not as pretty on the inside, in the shadow. And yet... Moonlight falls on fierce, wild eyes as Kywyn backs out of the shade of the building. He takes measured steps backward down the path as if it is part of some magic spell. The shadow mount awaits behind him, at the end of the walkway.
#173 kywyn Feb 07, 2006 10:45:33	Kywyn looks over his shoulder and mutters sorcery into the dark. He kneels down and traces a shape onto the path with his chalk. His hand darkens as he punches at the ground. A piece of shadow breaks off and becomes a bat. Kywyn strikes the ground again, metal gauntlet clinking against the path. The shadows under him change shape again and another bat breaks off, then another. Then several each time he taps the stone. Now a shadowy swarm forms around him. --- [color=dimgray][shadow conjuration (summon swarm), Will save to disbelieve.][/color]
#174 zombiegleemax Feb 07, 2006 20:50:07	Boirin looks unsure as Kywyn acts very strangely, in a sense he looks to the orc for answers. But he knows he has none. He has less of an idea than the rogue as to what caused this.
#175 zombiegleemax Feb 07, 2006 23:36:51	Gilgiga stares into the bats trying to keep track of where the Sorcerer goes, to see what he does.
#176 kywyn Feb 08, 2006 0:07:21	The lines of bats circle out in a widening gyre, flapping into anything around them. Kywyn shakes his head and jumps atop his black phantom mount.
#177 zombiegleemax Feb 10, 2006 21:30:46	"He's getting away," Gilgiga growls at the barman. Not entriely thrilled with the idea of a late night chase. "Is he dangerious?"
#178 zombiegleemax Feb 10, 2006 22:52:05	"Very..." Boirin looks dazed as the sorceror gallops off in the flurry of shadow and dark. "I think hes just confused though. I don't know why he can't talk, I don't think he knows either. He probably won't hurt anyone. Probably."
#179 kywyn Feb 10, 2006 23:55:38	Kywyn mount trots until it is at the edge of the church's grassed yard. Kywyn turns back as the bats flutter out in various directions. He spies the profiles of the two men watching him. He tries to remember. Tread lightly in the dark; you do not know which shadows may be deeper, may lead off into strange places. But aren't all places strange? Yes, when you are not used to them. But from the earliest days, we were dancing in the shadows. They why be so cautious? Because we are not ready. We do not remember how. No, I've been ready all this time. I was ready from the first time. I know it doesn't exist, but still- You think you'll be... I know I'll be... Perfect. The phantom steed gives a voiceless whinny as Kywyn turns away from the temple.
#180 zombiegleemax Feb 11, 2006 11:08:01	"We should follow him, for his own protection." Gilgiga starts moving in the direction the horse went. "Do you have any ideas where he might be headed?" Something told Gilgiga that tracking a specfic horse in the city wouldn't be the easiest thing to do.
#181 zombiegleemax Feb 11, 2006 11:21:54	"No idea." Boirin starts off towards the horse as well. His faster clip makes it a tad easier to follow.
#182 kywyn Feb 11, 2006 13:08:46	The swirling vortex of darkness that is rider, mount, and swarm move to the adjacent graveyard, melding with the shadows among the headstones. --- [To Graveyard]
#183 zombiegleemax Feb 11, 2006 15:56:27	Boirin breaks into a run, faster than the average man, he tries to keep pace with the man on his imaginary horse. He follows into the twilight, towards the graveyard. [to graveyard]
#184 zombiegleemax Feb 27, 2006 2:46:33	in the mist of the Temple of Ordemetrex, Kal’thas shady figure made him out to be someone you’d see in The Shrine of Demmion. Coming up to the priest he bows and smiles hollowly. ‘G’day,’ he says coarsely, ‘Names Kal’thas and I was hoping you may be of service of me. By chance do hold scrolls of old times here. Or do you know of a library in Garic city?’ as he speaks he removes to gold keys and offers them in tribute to the priest.
#185 kneyejailb Mar 29, 2006 0:11:34	The priest seems distracted by something, and points a finger down a hallway. He ignores the gold and wanders off. A younger priestess behind a desk, clears her throat to get the gnomes attention. "Like what is it you are looking for?"
#186 zombiegleemax Mar 31, 2006 9:29:19	Driden comes to a skidding halt just in front of the temple. After gazing at it for a few moments while trying to catch his breath, the young man enters only to find Kal standing behind a desk staring at a young priestess. Hey Kal, did you just get here? I thought you left for the temple yesterday. Well no matter, did you find the library? The young sorceror asks before looking down at the priestess and blushes. Please forgive my rudeness, my name is Driden and this is Kal. We were told that there was a library here that we could visit. Could you tell us were we can find it?
#187 kneyejailb Apr 01, 2006 12:42:45	[color=purple]"Like there's usually a donation involved in using the library" The priestess twirls a strand of hair around her finger. "And like it's like a very big library, the librarians will like need to know what you are looking for." She stands up and motions for Kal and Driden to follow after her. "Like a lot of our books are really old. We can't just let like just anyone go browsing through them. You'll have to tell one of the librarians what you need and like they'll try to find it for you." The two are led into a shelf lined rooom. A pair of tables sit in the center of it, and the priestess points at one of them. "Just have a seat there, and like the librarians will be like right in to like help you." At the other table, an old halfling surrounded by various books, looks up from a large tome he is reading and smiles.
#188 zombiegleemax Apr 02, 2006 10:53:35	Driden thanks the young priestess before taking a seat with Kal . Finding the sight of the halfling surrounded by stacks of books a little funny, the young man smiles widely and greets the old one. Good morning.
#189 kneyejailb Apr 03, 2006 0:11:12	"Hello" The halfling answers back. He glances at his books and then at the other men in the library again. "Are you waiting for Rogart? He might be a bit." The halflings face reddens a bit. "He's looking for a rare book on Demmonite Transferance, Possesion,and Undeath for me. I doubt they even have it here, but Rogart insists they do. He's very proud of the collection here."
#190 zombiegleemax Apr 03, 2006 9:28:11	That's alright. We have nothing but time. He says with a smile. Now that's one interesting book your looking for. Are you studying necromancy or something? Can you raise me a little pet doggie skeleton!? Driden laughs then slaps Kal on the back. I think I'd rather read his book then a book about Moofire. What do you think?
#191 kneyejailb Apr 04, 2006 1:10:04	The halfling laughs before shaking his head. "I doubt it's a very interesting book really. More of a referance manuel. No spells for making dogs into their own snacks. It's something I'm looking up for a friend of my son. Most likely it will just be a list of names about various entities rumoured to be in league with the Dark One." He holds up one of the books on the table next to him. "If you want a good reading expierance, this is the book you want." "Nothing but adventures and heroic deeds. It doesn't have anything to do with the subject I'm researching though." He puts the book back down. "Nothing about moonfire either. What is that? A spell of somesort?"
#192 zombiegleemax Apr 04, 2006 10:57:24	Well you see, my friend and I are on a quest for a noble wizard. He has tasked us in finding three rings of glass filled with moon water and are supposed to be linked to something called "moonfire"! He says excitedly while making grand gestures with his arms. How exciting is that?! Well not yet, but I'm sure we'll be battling goblins and orcs once we get our lead. Driden starts to laugh while he comes up with numerous adventures the two of them will encounter. Maybe someday we'll be in a book and you can read about us Mr.....errr, what's was your name good sir? Driden asks with a funny look on his face as he tries to remember if the halfling had already introduced himself.
#193 kneyejailb Apr 04, 2006 20:18:26	"I'm Hermy Woodhome." The old halfling pauses and then adds. "Senior." "Perhaps you've heard of my son? Sir Hermy Woodhome. Junior?" He smiles and taps the pile of books in front of him. "One of the best things about books is that you can always write more." "With some skill and some luck I'm sure you'll make it into one one day. Especially with a story like that. Three rings. Good number for a story. And it sounds like a bit of mystery in there as well. Once you fight your goblins for the action you might just have a masterpiece there."
#194 zombiegleemax Apr 05, 2006 9:08:03	Well it's nice to meet you Mr. Woodhome. This is Kal and I'm Driden. After introducing himself, Driden starts to scratch his head while running through a list of names in his memory. Hermy Jr eh? Nope, never heard of him, but I did just arrive yesterday. Is he really famous around these parts? Leaning back in his chair, the young sorceror stretches out. After a nice pop from the shoulders, Driden settles back into his seat and looks over at halfling's books. It would be nice to be in a book but to tell the truth, just going on an adventure would be worth it all. I spent the last several years as mercenary so I didn't really get to do things like this. Helping out others has a nice feeling to it. Even though I'm kinda paying a debt rather then helping out, but you gotta start somewhere eh? Driden props an elbow on the table and rest his chin on his palm while he looks up into the rafters. I just hope we can find our lead.
#195 kneyejailb Apr 07, 2006 2:29:46	Hermy Sr. blushes. "I'm told he's pretty famous. And not just by his bard either. By most of the Halfling Quarter actually." "I've been thinking of turning the stories about him into a book. Of course I'll leave out the boring parts of an adventures life. From what I've seen it doesn't really seem to be much more exciting then being a mercanary would be." "A few minutes of action and a lot of travel and waiting. It really is more exciting when you read about it. Start, middle and end. The three basic ingridents to a story. Everything else is just flavor to taste. I prefer to just put in the spicey parts." "Sounds like you have a start, and well... um.. that's a start." He turns the page on one of the open books in front of him. "I hope to find a lead soon too."
#196 zombiegleemax Apr 07, 2006 8:50:03	Driden slowly lowers his gaze down onto Hermy Sr. What kinda lead are you looking, if you don't mind my asking?
#197 kneyejailb Apr 09, 2006 22:31:21	The halfling shrugs. "I'm not exactly sure." "I'm just hoping somethig reaches out and grabs me. I don't really expect to find anything actually, but it is the only way I can think of to help." He sighs. "The man I'm trying to help, helped me. He risked his life to bring me back to my family. If I did't even try to find some way to help him, well, I'd be no kind of friend, would I?"
#198 zombiegleemax Apr 10, 2006 0:21:09	Driden smiles after hearing what Hermy Sr had to say. I hope you find what your looking for but I wouldn't worry about not being a good friend. Just by coming out here to this library in search of an unknown lead should be more than proof enough. Besides, I'm pretty sure this friend of yours didn't expect anything in return when he risked his life to help you. The young man shrugs before reaching over and grabbing a lone book at the end of the table. Or atleast that's what I think... Opening the book, Driden reads a few lines of the book before making a confused face.
#199 tensek_vicar_dup Apr 10, 2006 21:44:55	Tensek slides into the temple, Kiara padding quietly at his heels. In total silence the pair cross the entrance hall to the desk in which a young priestess is sitting. "Does this temple have a library?" "Like Yes we do. But you have to like make a donation to use it." "That's fine." Twirling a strand of hair like in her fingers the priestess rises and waves for Tensek to follow her. "Like the books are old so you can't touch them. But like our librarians will get the books you need so you should like know what you're looking for before you go." "I know what I'm lookign for," Tensek says as he walks alongside the young priestess. As the pair and the dog get to the door the priestess stops and frowns, Like I can't let you're pet in so you'll have to like leave her with me." "That's fine," Tensek kneels down with Kiara and whispers a few words into the her ear, in response the dog barks happily and waves her small stubb of a tail. "Like head on in and grab a seat and like a librarian will like be right with you." "Thanks..." Again in total silence Tensek slips into the library and sets himself down at an unoccupied table and waits quietly barely even moving. [to be continued...]
#200 kneyejailb Apr 11, 2006 1:05:13	Hermy Sr. gives Driden a sympathetic smile, and hands him a book. There is an illistration of a knight in armor fighting a dragon on the cover."You'll probably find this one more interesting. Though I doubt it will help you with your research much." "I'll tell you what, I'll keep an eye out for any mention of 'moonfire', and you just read that book of adventures for enjoyment. And maybe some ideas." "They say fiction is just a pale imitation of reality. I take that to mean anything you read there is possible and then some. I never thought either of my sons would ever see a dragon, let alone slay one."
#201 zombiegleemax Apr 11, 2006 10:13:35	Driden nods to Hermy Sr with appreciation before taking the book and looking over the cover. He then opens it and quickly scans several pages. Just as he flips another page, the young man drops the book onto the table and looks over at Hermy Sr with an extremely surprised look. Your sons slayed a dragon! They must be pretty powerful to take on one of those beast. I'm surprised I haven't heard of them yet!
#202 kneyejailb Apr 12, 2006 1:53:55	The old halfling shakes his head. "Only one of my sons has slain a dragon. I'm sure you'll hear about him if you stay in the city long enough." A frown crosses his face. "I don't think my other son did anything near as heroic. In fact from what I've heard I'm sure of it." Hermy Sr. studies the pages of the book in front of him and bites his lip.
#203 zombiegleemax Apr 18, 2006 15:56:41	Driden decides not to press the issue and leans back in his chair. After a few quiet moments, he picks up the book Hermy showed him and starts to read it.
#204 zombiegleemax Jun 06, 2006 13:02:35	Two figures arrive at the Temple just as the inky blackness of the sky begins to fade, ever so slightly, to a dark blue. The one in the lead, the shorter of the two, raps twice on the small window near the door. It is shuttered from the inside, but soon enough it is opened and a sleepy voice speaks from within. "Let me in," says the woman. "I bring with me one who is in need of what he may find in the Labyrinth." There is more muttering and whispering between her and the voice behind the window, until the half-elven cleric pushes back the shawl she had wrapped around her head and shoulders to ward off the chill of the night. "Now do you see that you know me?" she asks. "Please. Let us enter." There is a long pause before the window is shuttered again, and a longer pause before the elaborately decorated front doors of the temple begin to swing open.
#205 kywyn Jun 06, 2006 15:55:41	The second individual steps up next to the half-elf woman; though night is leaving them, the shadows seem to cling to the man. His torn grey wrappings writhe behind him as if alive and hungry. He was just here, in the moon shadow of the great arch, not too long ago. Why always this place? Kywyn stands a pace behind Natala, waiting for the door to fully open before venturing forward tentatively. The hood of his cloak blows back, letting loose short dark hair as Kywyn crouches at the doorstep, moving over the threshold cautiously. <"Why back under The Scales?"> he speaks in low scratches, <"Pray to stars… When pattern is bare."> From his crouch, Kywyn leans back against the near wall as the ones who unlocked the door maintain a distance while muttering hushed words. The pale man closes his eyes, listening to some vibration in the stone.
#206 zombiegleemax Jun 06, 2006 16:57:40	The brown-robed acolytes close the great doors and return the bar that holds it shut in times of need to its place. "Thank you," Natala says quietly, and takes little further notice of them. She crouches near her friend. she asks in the same harsh, scratchy tongue, pausing to think how best to translate "The Labyrinth." (I have.)Oo. she thinks. .oO(And I have no wish to return.)
#207 kywyn Jun 06, 2006 17:30:16	<"Maze without walls,"> Kywyn voices after a long moment of pondering. He opens his eyes and props himself up to his feet, accompanied by small clinking noises from his gauntlets touching the wall. <"Yes."> It is difficult to pull the memory back through the haze, but Kywyn recalls stepping into a strange place below and the intensity it lent to his thoughts and fears. <"Why?"> a whisper that buries into the ears. <"Half here, half somewhere... already,"> the slender man looks blank and lost. He glances distrustfully at the robed attendants. The cold glare prods them to leave the pair alone, or at least observe from a respectable distance.
#208 zombiegleemax Jun 08, 2006 1:40:42	They are left alone as she leads the shadowy figure down one corridor and up another. she says at last, and it seems to have taken them a long time merely to arrive at this door, as if time has passed slowly, or as if she was merely reluctant to go to this place, even as a guide. Natala commands gently. "The shadows cling to him like threads," she thinks as she leads him into the room with mosaic tiles on the floor and a ceiling that somehow lets through the light of the sky. "Like threads of what was, and is, and will be. Like the threads he once saw me as spinning."
#209 kywyn Jun 08, 2006 12:48:19	<"Riddles not wanting anymore."> Kywyn still seems distant as if he isn't sure this is really happening. Hearing someone answer him is jarring after all this time. He feels like there are two overlapping images of everything, the walls, the lanterns, the people, even Natala. One version seems familiar, normal, and still. The other is a shadow, twisting, and different just enough in some places to play with his sanity. When Natala speaks, Kywyn sees the normal version of her mumbling gibberish while the darker version of her speaks in an understandable way, though her features look ghostly and dark. Kywyn follows the cleric into the room with the ethereal ceiling. Here, the shadow double is completely different, displaying a maze of walls to his mind. The man feels his heart rate beating louder, the pulse in his wrists building with pressure as the black tendrils seek release. He grits his teeth and turns toward Natala, <"Not good."> Shadow sounds reach Kywyn's ears, distant shrieks and rumbles. <"Where will you go?"> One piece of the shadow grows on Kywyn's shoulder, opening golden eyes and uttering a chirp. The frog familiar blinks, staring ahead.
#210 zombiegleemax Jun 11, 2006 0:43:39	she says, Is it a proverb, learned before she even knew who she was? Or a truth she's learned, seeing one person after another return to this life from the other, all of them changed — a truth she didn't know she believed until now? she says, and she knows her distaste for this place comes through, even as she tries to convey that she will not willingly leave his side. "I wish I could take him outside the city for this, to the mesa in the desert, but he would not leave his family so long." Thus Natala reassures herself why she is bringing her friend here, instead to the vision-seeking places outside the city she would prefer... but she cannot shake the nagging sensation that time is short. It leaves her almost trembling. she says, raising her hand so the fingertips are at the frog's level. she says again, and they are inside the Labyrinth.
#211 kywyn Jun 11, 2006 2:26:48	The air seems to swirl around them, the walls appear to bend in his mind. He is hungry and thristy suddenly, he could eat and drink forever. He is somewhere alien and comforting at the same time. He is scared. Kywyn doubles over clutching his arms at the elbows. His boots make metallic tinks as he steps forward with Natala. A deep breath escapes his mouth and he struggles to regain it. With heaving inhalations, he steadies himself and looks around. <"Dreams I've never lived before..."> His outline darkens and a ghostly black tentacle slides from each of his wrists to snake around the air. He eyes are glowing a dim gold, matching his frog's. Kywyn takes three more steps forward, exhaling staccato with each one. <"Drop."> <"The."> <"Other.">
#212 zombiegleemax Jun 13, 2006 3:01:40	Natala walks backwards before Kywyn, her hands still outstretched. To her eyes, it is as if they are walking into a fog. The room with its stone walls is becoming indistinct, as her friend seems to become more substantial. Dizzy, she closes her eyes for a moment. In that moment, an image — a vision? — appears to her: She walks across the surface of a lake that stretches from horizon to horizon, its surface barely quivering under her steps. The moon is full, and looms so large overhead that it seems to fill the night sky. Yet the water does not reflect its light, and the result is a dizzying inversion of colors. "Which side of the water do I walk on?" she wonders. A voice speaks, its tones quavering as if heard through water; but she is certain she is breathing air. Taking another step backwards, the witch speaks again. Her eyes open.
#213 kywyn Jun 13, 2006 10:42:47	Kywyn only sees black. He finds it strange as there has been little darkness to his eyes since gaining the night sight of something other. Eventually a large light flickers on overhead, spilling silvery light through the area. Kywyn looks up to see the full moon. The land looks old and primitive, dark silhouettes of things that may be. Kywyn's shadow bends low, golden lights for eyes, tendrils trailing his motions. He has the urge to run hard in any direction. He looks ahead to the shape of the half-elf. Her overlapping forms seem to be speaking in unison. He speaks in abrasive whirs, <"How can I escape?"> <"How can we live half here and half in the other?"> Kywyn starts to move away into the mist on all fours, followed by an echoing frog's ribbit.
#214 zombiegleemax Jun 14, 2006 22:10:03	Natala feels rooted to the spot as Kywyn half hops, half crawls away into the mist. The world seems to spin around her, and his voice seems to come from every direction, coupled and commingled with other voices. She feels sure that one of the voices is her own, but is not certain which, cannot pick it out from the susurration. And now the fog begins to lift, and her friend is nowhere to be seen in this field of bones picked clean and bleached by the blind and pitiless sun. Bones. Of course. They are inside every living thing, and if one knows how to read them, they tell the story of the world, what was and what is to come. Can she read the epic tale that must be held here? She closes her eyes, listening again.
#215 kywyn Jun 15, 2006 0:11:24	Kywyn pauses and cranes his neck up like a scouting cat. More voices? Shattered, yes, he gets that much. He feels like he shouldn't leave her there. There had some sort of connection he should remember. More swirling noises buzz around the augmented Kywyn. He blinks golden eyes and swats at the noises as if they were flies with his hands and connected tentacles. Kywyn crouches down into a seated position, listening and peering through the fog. He thinks he sees Natala's outline, but there is something separating them. <"Is it there?> he voices.
#216 zombiegleemax Jun 22, 2006 0:46:00	<"Is it there?"> The broken croak seems to come from all sides, to fill her head as well as the air around her. she whispers, and all is hushed.
#217 kywyn Jun 22, 2006 10:18:19	Kywyn swims toward the voice, though it is only mist and air in front of him. He squeezes himself through the fog that feels like it's trying to seal up. It tries to keep Kywyn out, but the shadowed man writhes his spectral tentacles through to create an opening. <"Won't keep me out this time."> He floats and swims and steps through to someplace he hasn't been before... Or has he?
#218 zombiegleemax Jun 22, 2006 22:09:46	As if in a dream — and isn't it, really? Isn't is a sort of dream, standing in this field of bones under a full moon, when it should be a tiled mosaic floor and the rising sun? But no, this is too real to be a dream — Natala opens her eyes again. Someone is here, but she cannot see them. The dark is deepening, entering her eyes. Entering her mind. She tries to take a step, and stumbles. she tries to ask, but it comes out as a whisper, half stuck in her throat. And the only response she hears is the clatter of bones, bones she can no longer see as she falls, falls to her knees, falls further... Who is there?
#219 kywyn Jun 22, 2006 22:55:55	<"You are going through the desert."> A familiar voice in a different role, Kywyn steps up behind her, slowly resolving into this vision. He walks past her without looking down, keeps walking up stone steps toward something. The bone have formed a throne.
#220 zombiegleemax Jun 23, 2006 0:23:39	"He knows," she thinks. Her voice is defiant, like a human teen caught sneaking out at night. Which, in a way, she is. "Or you would have already," she thinks; but this toes the line between truth and bravado. Her thoughts add, "He must not know about the others," and she cringes, not knowing what magicks have been worked on this place. She is still kneeling in place. She cannot rise. She is caught, kneeling in obeisance before the skeletal throne.
#221 kywyn Jun 23, 2006 19:26:28	<"It will kill you."> Kywyn leans forward, the cloth of this torn cloak superimposed with whole and regal looking green fabric. His face has another face painted over top, a spectral visage of a gaunt-looking older man, pale as the bleached bones. <"You cannot leave."> Light yellow Sand starts blowing into the scene, collecting at the edges of the bone piles.
#222 zombiegleemax Jun 27, 2006 0:25:55	Natala retches at the sight of her best friend overlaid with the face of her worst enemy. "Does it have to be happening again?" The half-elf's face shows no difference between the woman Kywyn knows and the youth of the vision. Her hair is black, rather than shot with silver, and her clothes are remarkably similar to Kywyn's own black cloak; but the eyes of her elder self have seen no greater horrors. Is it the voice of the youth crying for release from the spell that binds her? Or is it the woman, begging to stop reliving this vision? She no longer knows. But all at once she is running, blind with rage or terror, running at the man in green, or running away in the dark.
#223 kywyn Jun 27, 2006 1:08:25	<"If I let you go, what of others who would do the same?"> The robed Kywyn reaches out to catch her wrist as if she were an angry child. <"Have you ever considered your responsibility?"> Something unexpected (to Kywyn's spectral character at least), Natala is stronger than she appears; they tumble down the steps, knocking bones in all directions. Sand swirls around them as they land. It remains pale sand for Natala. For Kywyn, who is looking more like himself, it is snow. He finds himself struggling through the thigh deep drift, an earlier version of himself painted transparently over his current state. Though in similar black clothing, he lacks his spiked armor and deathly pale skin tone. <"There was a time when I would have walked the world to find you.. to find out.">
#224 zombiegleemax Jul 08, 2006 21:37:48	Natala's step would normally be light over such a sand dune; but she is still overlaid with a younger self. She walks as if carrying a great burden, and her face is wet, shining with the effort she is making to keep going. Another dragging step, her feet sinking slightly in the soft ground.
#225 kywyn Jul 09, 2006 1:18:14	Kywyn stumbles in the snow, the blowing white pulling at his cloak. <"I thought I could."> <"The answers would keep me standing."> They continue to walk in their mirrored and overlapping environments. <"But the more I saw, the more it worried me. That the answers wouldn't save my life. That it was only a question and the quest that kept me breathing."> Shadows and silhouettes appear on the horizon for Kywyn, broken outlines of buildings. He turns and offers his hand to Natala to pull her up from her sinking. <"That scared me.">
#226 zombiegleemax Jul 23, 2006 0:15:52	she says, still struggling not to sink to her knees. She looks up, sees his hand, reaches out. She grasps his hand, and they both feel a jolt.
#227 kywyn Jul 23, 2006 0:49:24	Kywyn's eyes are closed. <"Where are we now?"> He no longer feels her hand with his. Even behind his eyelids, the man sense shadowy figures shifting about as if setting up for the next scene of a play.
#228 zombiegleemax Aug 07, 2006 0:35:14	Natala's cry echos on itself, as if coming from the throats of both her past and present selves. she screams frantically, at the same time she says quietly in the level-headed tone Kywyn is more familiar with: Around Kywyn, there are clear sounds of people in distress, trying to fight or run from some enemy that seems to feel no pain.
#229 kywyn Aug 07, 2006 17:27:29	Kywyn runs. His legs feel as if they are detached as he speeds along with the flitting shadow images of haggard-looking people. He sprints before he knows why, but finds he cannot move as quickly as he would like. In fact, he is almost at a stalker's pace, following the signs of motion ahead patiently, tirelessly. Finally glancing down, he sees his own body sheathed in a shadow image of foreign-looking armor and sickly-looking, bony claws. Up ahead he sees the victims running, Natala among them. When one hazy image of a man falters in his path, Kywyn cleaves him down with a jagged, phantom blade. He chases now, realizing he has to catch them. <"You can't run forever. Why not stop and make this easy?"> the voice is detached and angry at the same time, both observer and participant.
#230 zombiegleemax Aug 15, 2006 0:29:48	Natala reaches down to touch the shoulder of the one gnome among the group, urging him on though he cannot keep up with the others. She glances behind them, and stumbles, rolling down a dune in a rush that takes her breath away. When she scrambles to her feet and tries to run again, she finds she cannot see as well. The moon still makes the sand glow silver, true, but that only disguises dimples in the ground, rocks to trip her. She can't see her friends in this light — but surely they haven't outrun her. She's faster now, taller, in the body of a full human. Her gaze darts around, trying to keep with the others, to find her direction... The hairs on the back of her neck are standing on end, and she whirls around, raising her walking stick, which is the only thing she managed to grab when they ran in the middle of the night.
#231 kywyn Aug 15, 2006 17:35:50	Overlaid images run around them as Kywyn steps up to where the dual Natala holds her weapon. On top of Kywyn's glowing gold eyes are a set of red hued eyes in darkened gaunt sockets. Hex hides somewhere among Kywyn's cloak. <"What are you planning to do with that?"> he questions, sounding genuinely curious. The ghostly serrated blade is in one hand while his spectral black tentacle from his other wrist coils around his space. A transparent skin of lumbering, burnt armor in a foreign fashion with greenish robes covers the slender man's regular dark-clad frame. <"I'm not killing you... This is the cure."> He's heard himself say those words before. They seem to make more sense now. He's trying to save her from this nightmare memory, isn't he? Kywyn remembers the extrasensory flashes he experienced when he first met Natala, the visions of another story that never quite made sense.
#232 zombiegleemax Aug 30, 2006 23:41:39	Natala feels her legs tremble. She is too frightened now to run; whether it is simple fear or the result of some magic being worked by her adversary, she cannot know. "—," she says, trying to speak, but the words die in her throat and come out as only a strangled growl. Whether they would have been noble words or cowardly, they choke her now, and she throws the stick as if that could have any impact.
#233 kywyn Sep 01, 2006 10:43:19	The improvised club bounces off the shadow of old armor. She had to be stopped, disciplined and killed. No one defies. There is old law that none of these self-important refugees comprehend. The Kywyn figure raises his blooded sword with the ghostly arm wrapped around his own. As he closes in on his frozen rival, he has every intent of striking her down. He could feel the heartless rage emanating from his character. But then he pauses and looks down. <"What did I say at this point? How did you get away?"> The gold eyes seem lost for a moment under the angry reds. <"How did we get to here?">
#234 arvindur May 05, 2009 0:49:11	Arvindur, Zade and Dorian haul their battered selves down to the Temple, the large dog with them not much better off, despite the armor. Arvindur spends most of the trip there convincing Zade that priests of Ordemetrex would be more likely to tend to the wounded Wolfkin as well as the humans, his personal preferences aside.
#235 Pangur May 05, 2009 9:12:20	"What-ever..." Zade can't bother bringing up the energy to argue with his fellow halfling anyway, and drags himself to the large, open doors that welcome visitors to Ordemetrex' temple. A young acolyte inside the front portal hurries over when she sees the extensive collection of bandages and bruises on the trio and their dog. "Oh my... What happened to you?"
#236 arvindur May 06, 2009 9:10:24	"Got hurt on Watch business, they said we could come by the temples for healing."
#237 Pangur May 06, 2009 9:53:11	"Got hurt on Watch business, they said we could come by the temples for healing." "We've been getting a lot of that lately... Most go and see Agathalos' followers, but we can take care of you just as well. Follow me, if you please." The girl leads the Silver Swords to a chapel adjoining the temple proper, where the air is thick with incense. An older priestess is sitting on a bench, praying to Mother Ordemetrex. Neither she nor the acolyte seems perturbed by Wolfkin's presence. "These good men are in need of healing, Sister," the acolyte says. "Will you see them now?" "Very well. Please approach." The priestess beckons the group over and positions them underneath a stained glass window depicting the Goddess, whom she beseeches to bring succour to those in need. A warm glow suffuses everyone and they feel their hurts melt away - even Wolfkin, who whuffs contentedly.
#238 arvindur May 06, 2009 18:39:28	Arvindur joins the prayer, ending with a "Thank thee, Mother, for thy care." He resolves to come back on one of his days off, to pay back the aid in kind, and pats Wolfkin on the head. "Thank you for the help Sister."
#239 Pangur May 07, 2009 6:56:53	"You are welcome, my son. I hear you hold our Mother in your heart. That is good. Remember you will always find a home under Her care." With those kind words, the group is dismissed and the priestess resumes her prayers. The young acolyte notes the Silver Swords' names for the records and shows them out again with Ordemetrex' blessing. Show If you wish to spend some more time at the Temple, Arvindur, by all means. It's not like you're being kicked out. ;)
#240 arvindur May 07, 2009 8:33:55	Arvindur bows in respect to the Sister, before leaving for the Hightower, the team had work to do... spells or no spells.
#241 arvindur May 30, 2009 19:18:25	Arvindur, Satyre, Zade and Dorian arrives at Mother's temple once more, this time looking far less battered than they were scant hours ago.
#242 Pangur May 31, 2009 3:33:56	The same acolyte from before comes to greet the foursome. "Back so soon? Not in need of healing again, I hope. Have you come to join us in prayer?"
#243 satyre May 31, 2009 9:29:55	"Prayers? I am afraid not, though they might be needed. We have come here with a warning." Satyre turns to Arvindur to fill the acolyte in, since he's more familiar with the case.
#244 arvindur May 31, 2009 9:59:02	Arvindur solemnly passes on his ill tidings,"Bad news, Sister. We have uncovered some indications during our investigation that the culprit intends to stage a dark ritual either here in Mother's temple, or in the graveyard nearby once he completes the preparatory work. If he succeeds, it could be very, very bad."
#245 Pangur May 31, 2009 12:54:17	Arvindur solemnly passes on his ill tidings,"Bad news, Sister. We have uncovered some indications during our investigation that the culprit intends to stage a dark ritual either here in Mother's temple, or in the graveyard nearby once he completes the preparatory work. If he succeeds, it could be very, very bad." "A dark ritual? Here? That's unthinkable! Are you sure?" Flustered, the acolyte signals some of the older priests and priestesses. "You must be mistaken! "
#246 arvindur May 31, 2009 20:27:03	"It is a distasteful thought, Sister, but indications are that the focus this rite will of necessity be here or the graveyard, likely at night. Though of course, unless he was awfully suicidal, I'd expect the criminal to pick the graveyard. " Arvindur patiently waits for the more senior, and hopefully less easily flustered priests to show up.
#247 Pangur Jun 01, 2009 2:05:09	"Yes, daughter? Is something amiss?" An older priest, still looking vigorous despite his advanced age, has approached the group. "Do you seek our Mother's aid and guidance, visitors?"
#248 arvindur Jun 01, 2009 15:02:15	"Ill news sister. The sacrifices we have been investigating point towards a ritual of dark power the size of the city, to be centered upon Mother's temple and the graveyard." Arvindur briefly reiterates the circumstances they were in, "We hope you would set out a watch over the temple and the graveyard, particularly at night, as the Hightower indicated that was the most likely hour for the culprit or culprits to strike, once the remainder of their preparations were complete. He, or they, may be highly adept at magic."
#249 satyre Jun 01, 2009 20:24:40	"If it is needed, perhaps we can arrange some men from the Watch to patrol the grounds as well. Hopefully we can apprehend these disgusting individuals before they realize their purpose... but one can never be too careful."
#250 Pangur Jun 02, 2009 2:27:39	"We hope you would set out a watch over the temple and the graveyard, particularly at night, as the Hightower indicated that was the most likely hour for the culprit or culprits to strike, once the remainder of their preparations were complete. He, or they, may be highly adept at magic." "This is a highly unlikely tale, young man. I'm sure you must realize that yourself. But the Silver Sword has a good reputation, and your Watch commander has always done right by us. Very well, we'll arrange for some of our brothers and sisters to stand vigil."
#251 Pangur Jun 02, 2009 2:33:27	"If it is needed, perhaps we can arrange some men from the Watch to patrol the grounds as well." "I would appreciate that. Not many of our priests are ready to defend the faith with spells and physical strength these days. We bring the Mother's light to those who wish to see it, not with force but with conviction."
#252 arvindur Jun 02, 2009 10:22:45	"I hope this comes to nothing, Sister, but better a vigil in vain, than for the culprit to actually succeed. The Hightower was of the opinion that, should the rite work as planned, the culprit may obtain near divine power, though it was judged unlikely to succeed." He takes a breath, "Thank you for listening to our warning, Sister. We must now make haste to unravel the puzzle, and head the culprit off before he can commence, with luck. I too pledge my aid, should help be needed, just send up a flare and we will be here as fast as our feet will take us."
#253 Pangur Jun 02, 2009 14:56:12	"A kind offer," the priest replies. "We expected no less from the Silver Sword. The blessings of our Mother be upon thee, good friends."
#254 arvindur Jun 02, 2009 22:11:17	"And to you Sister." Arvindur lets the others say their farewells, and heads onward to the Guildhouse.
#255 satyre Jun 03, 2009 12:34:29	Satyre bows politely to the priest and follows Arvindur to the Guildhouse. "When we reach the Guild, we should sent word out to the watch to send out a patrol."
#256 fredgy127 Jun 21, 2009 23:11:00	"Kai is being kept here, but I think Jace is being kept at the Jackal compund." Yeah.