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Registered Member #155
Joined: 7:47:30 pm GMT 06/22/04
Posts: 604
Finding a place to get the letter sent off wasn't easy, but after a brief return to the Watch, Pariah had managed to wrangle a delivery boy, and gave him a few gold pieces for his trouble. He waited a few minutes as she finished up her letter, and folded it carefully. As she handed it over, she made it known who the recipient was to be.
"Listen to me carefully, boy. An extra ten gold, if you deliver this as quickly as possible. I want it delivered to the Keeper's guild hall in Hamley. I do not care which receives it, though it would be preferable if it was received by either Jiles or Andras. Now, be quick about it. I will not be here when you return."
The boy raced off, as Pariah rose, to make her way out of the Watch and away from the area. She had no affiliation there, other than a place to buy and sell merchandise. She would not bring them more trouble than they could make for themselves.
While she made way 'home', the letter would arrive at the guildhouse. The boy would knock, and should someone answer it would be delivered. If no one answers, it would be slipped beneath the door.
The outside of the folded parchment simply said: Keepers
Letter from Pariah wrote ... Keepers,
It was only a few nights past, that one of your own asked me a simple question. 'What do we want?'. I have a simple answer.
Leave us be. All we seek is a haven to call our own, and exist. I do not seek war, and I seek no more bloodshed than is necessary to survive. Leave us in peace, and you shall have yours. But know that we will not be pushed.
For every one of mine struck down, we will strike down one of yours. For every ally of ours who is brought to their knees by you, we will do the same to yours. You wish to avoid open war and bloodshed, then you would do well to seriously consider what I say. We have little wish to make a home in your settlements, when your obvious distrust for our kind has blinded you. Leave us to forge our way, and start our own settlement. Someplace we can call home, and where you would not hunt us.
Enough people have bled in your quest for the greater good, on both sides of this. If you wish for more, that wish will be granted. But if you truly wish for peace, you will grant us that which we ask for.
*at the bottom, claw marks tear the page, and a name signed in crimson*
Pariah
Registered Member #155
Joined: 7:47:30 pm GMT 06/22/04
Posts: 604
Preparations
She stood atop a small rise, overlooking the landscape of what they currently called 'home'. Would it do for now? That answer was most assuredly yes. But would if suffice in the long run? That question plagued her. No, they sought something better. Someplace they could hunt and kill. Somewhere they could defend as their own.
Lightning struck above, lancing from cloud to cloud, as the rain poured down. Her hair hung in wet strands in her face, as one eye shifted, sweeping over the gathering of Tiamat's children. Reaching up, she tore the eyepatch from her face, revealing the horrid jagged scar, and the smooth, pale white stone that was forced into the empty socket.
Tossing the patch to fall into the mud below her, her attention was drawn to a voice that came with the crack of thunder rumbling after the lightning strike. 'She must face punishment for treason. Send the devil if he wishes to go. You must concentrate on the task at hand.'
"As you wish, my Queen." Pariah bowed her head, letting her one eye slide shut briefly. Gripping her spear, she yanked it free of the muddy earth, and leaned it against her shoulder. The motion was enough to cause her to wince, though the pain was subsiding. Sunite bitch. Resorting to mage scrolls to fight.
If she received no answer, she would fight dirty, and use the tactics -they- sought to use against her charges. Hunt them one by one, like cattle for the slaughter.
One way or another, this was going to end. And if they wished blood, she would give it to them, with tooth and talon!
"Prepare yourselves, for the battle that lies ahead may very well be a long one. If they wish war, it will be granted. It may be your last fight to face, but leave no one to stand in our way!"
Registered Member #1205
Joined: 6:06:34 pm GMT 11/13/07
Posts: 1136
After her talk with Pariah and the talk of peace, Celeste thought about who she would speak to. Finding people who wanted to be safe from these kin was easy. Finding people who would let them into their towns in exchange for that was much more difficult.
Realizing that she didn't have the influence to negotiate this, Celeste writes a note to the other Keepers:
Keepers,
Pariah has promised me that the towns and roads would be made safe for us non-kin, in return that they be granted access to our towns. Having moved here since my invitation, I must say that I certainly don't want them anywhere near Hamley. However, I don't know if I want that less or more than the inevitability of attacks...
I tried to offer her peace from us Keepers in exchange for this peace, but she told me that wasn't good enough. In this proposal, I see no good outcome for us. On one hand, we know our place with them and we fight them whenever we see them...on the other hand, we think we're safe, and we may very well be for a while, but we always have this nagging feeling of when they'll snap just like Mys did.
So, I suggest we get together as a group and discuss the best possible course of action for Thain.
Yours kindly,
Celeste
Registered Member #155
Joined: 7:47:30 pm GMT 06/22/04
Posts: 604
In haven, below those that would seek to oppress them, Pariah weaved her magic. A large skull, charred from dragons' fire, sat before her upon the floor. She called upon her Queen to grant her the gift which she wished to use. Lips moved as draconic language spilled forth, and hands began to call from the divine, bringing the spell down upon the skull.
Several days dead, but the flesh could be restored, as the regeneration spell worked its course. Flesh and muscle began to regrown upon the half-orc skull, covering it once more. It would not last more than a few days before decomposition began to take effect again, but all she needed was for it to last a few days.
Once the regrowth had completed, she knelt before the head, smiling sickeningly pleasant.
"Ah, Snaga. How even the mighty fall. But you're going to deliver a message for me, and it appears now.. you have little choice in the matter." One hand gripped the head, while the other moved forward, self-made talons beginning to carve into the flesh, a simple and direct message. One that would be delivered soon.
Registered Member #155
Joined: 7:47:30 pm GMT 06/22/04
Posts: 604
She couldn't count on anyone else taking up the responsibility of this task. She needed the remains, and she needed every piece that was still available... the head she could do without.
In the rain and the mud, shovel in hand, she took to her duty as her goddess demanded, in the woodlands north of the Watch and under the cover of darkness. She grumbled and muttered to herself, having to literally do the dirty work. But, she reminded herself, it would be worth it when it was done with. The body should still be in decent shape, despite a bit decomposed and missing a head.
In draconic, she cursed Marcus. Mostly for burying the body somewhere that made it so difficult to get in and out of without being seen. She was grateful for the sanctuary spell that let her move about most places without having to deal with slaughtering anyone unecessary. At least for the time being.
After several hours of digging, the shovel his something fairly solid, and she grunted as it gave only a little. She hoped she hadn't inadvertently cut off anything that might be later useful. As she continued, slower now to uncover the rest of the body, she discovered it was only minor damage to the already decomposing body. Nothing that would affect much.
Getting down on her knees, partially in the unmarked grave she'd opened in the woods, she wriggled her hands beneath the legs of the body and stood with a great heave, drawing on the strength that Tiamat had graced her with, to tug and yank and finally dislodge the great half-orc's body from the ground. The body freed itself with a sickening pop as the mud gave way, the hold beginning to fill rapidly with the same muck she had been digging in for hours now.
She grunted out her words in draconic, as she hauled the body up onto her shoulders. A feat she would hardly be capable of without the divine gifts granted her.
"You lumbering, self-righteous abomination. It's time you paid the real price of trifling with me and mine." With a shift, she adjusted the body, paying little mind to the spikes of her shoulderguards pressing into rotting flesh. Her steps were staggered, even though she'd carried such weight before, the positioning of it made it ungainly. And it was a long trip yet.
As she exited the wood and made her way along northern trails, she backtracked and slipped unseen into the spiders' domain. As encumbered as she was, she couldn't very well fight her way through, so the spiders were dispatched, as she called forth a mummy to handle the minor battles that lay ahead.
This left the path open for her, and she continued on, letting Fredrich take the lead, and destroy anything and anyone that might be in their way.
Part of the problem, she realized, was that the body was bloated from being buried without a casket, in a place that rained pretty frequently. But that was an issue that she needn't worry about, as long as the body still functioned in moderate order.
She considered many tasks for him, not the least of which was releasing the beast on Hamley or Steinkreis, for the way they were making them wait, and wait, and wait. A glance ahead as goblinoids fell before her in a wave, as Fredrich continued to do his duty single mindedly, and she followed along.
"Haven, Fredrich. That is where we go." She murmured to the mummy, who even took pause to help her open the nearly hidden door. With a grunt, she dislodged the heavy body and let it fall down the hole, while she calmly descended the ladder into darkness.
Torches lit at her arrival, from divine will or some spell left behind, whenever one would come into the abandoned rooms. Grabbing the corpse by the feet, she dragged it across the floor and into the large main room. As her divine granted strength faded, she managed to roll the bloated body into one of the smaller side areas, and instructed Fredrich to stand guard and allow none to pass.
"This.. is mine. None shall pass to lay a hand upon it, Fredrich. Even kin. Tiamat's will guides me, and you will slay whomever dares go against my will." The mummy just groaned and drooled in response, but took up a guarding position in front of the body laying prone on the cold stone floor. Before she moved off to rest her body after what she had just done, she spoke quietly to the corpse.
"Tomorrow, my large orcish abomination, we begin."
Registered Member #155
Joined: 7:47:30 pm GMT 06/22/04
Posts: 604
(ooc note: prayer taken and edited from a song to add dragons of the 'correct' mythos. Free cookies if you figure it out. Abbadonich, you're not allowed to guess.)
Prayer
News always reached her quickly, and it was news she had been waiting to hear. A rumor of dragons rallying, choosing sides. Now was the time for her to begin. Kneeling in the darkness as the midnight hour came, in the center of the main room in the place they called Haven, she prayed, her voice thickly draconic and resonating in the empty chamber.
"We invoke thee, dragons of chaos. We evoke thee, mighty dragon force. Awaken now from your aeonic slumber. Rise up from the abyss, dragons of forgotten lore, and let your chaos rule forevermore.
Tiamat - Queen of the formless deep, the seal is now broken. Hark to your dear childrens' invocation and awaken from your dreadful sleep.
Mordukhavar - The Reaver of Souls, raise your head and let the ancient ones rule again
An-Ur - The Wandering Death, supreme ruler of emptiness. Open up your endless eyes and rejoice as all creation dies.
Falazure - Undead lord of the sandy sea, fulfill the twilight prophecy. Unleash your hatred upon all life and kill this world in the final strife.
Dhakoth - The Corrupting One, by your wrathful chaos our war will be won. Bring forth your darkness, grant us your grace and enlighten us in your wicked ways.
Dragotha - Lord of dark desires, purify us with your smokeless fires. Make us at one with thyself and walk the world once again.
We invoke thee, dragons of chaos. We evoke thee, mighty dragon force. Awaken now from your aeonic slumber. Rise up from the abyss, dragons of forgotten lore, and let your chaos rule forevermore."
She spread out gold and gems in a half circle before her, and bowed her head as the final words were spoken. She would wait some time, should she receive any reply, before rising and continuing with her previous duties.
First and foremost was returning to the wood and digging up mud and muck to locate a certain axe.
[ Edited 06:20:02 PM 07/08/08 ]
Registered Member #155
Joined: 7:47:30 pm GMT 06/22/04
Posts: 604
Some time after her prayers, and after taking an appropriate amount of time to reattach the arm that Mys removed back onto the corpse, Pariah exited haven with eyes of true sight, and the veil of sanctuary. She moved, with shovel over her shoulder, as confident as she always did. The rain had ceased and the wind only came in a small breeze, but something caught her eye as she made her way through bugbear territory.
...feathers on the branches of a tree.
Well, well. It looks as if they'd had a fairly recent visitor, and judging by the colors of the feathers and size, one that she knows all too well.
"Little avariel witch. Looking for us, perhaps? Well, we'll just have to add this to my list of problems to be dealt with."
She snatched the feathers from the brush that she could reach, and stashed them away in her pack before continuing on. Her spells would last her to the grave, if she picked up the pace. So she did, striding a bit quicker than usual.
Upon arriving in the wood with no further delay, and ensuring she was alone by reapplying the spell of sight, she arrived at the site and once more began to dig. Though it was not raining, the hole was still filled with muck from turned earth, and after a while, she found it easier to just get down in the hole and use her hands to move the soft mud and grime, tossing it aside. Thankfully this time, her prize was not going to be as heavy as the last one.
It didn't take her any less time however, to locate the object of her search. She raked through the mud for what seemed hours, and there was little doubt as the sun began to set, that she had been at this far longer than she intended.
As she was beginning to grow frustrated enough to cease, she almost felt something. Not a sentience, but she could feel the death upon something. Something close, so she dug again. Another thirty minutes elapsed, before she uncovered the haft of the axe she sought, and worked it free from the muck. Uthundor... a red... a black. Chromatics slain using this weapon, and she could feel traces of the end of life left behind, staining the blade.
How appropriate. A dragonkiller now killing for a dragon. And once she had him up and about, she already had his first task.
She couldn't stay much longer. Using her second sanctuary spell, and drawing her true sight back up, she checked the area around her carefully, and then made her departure, through the usual backwoods path. She stepped quick but cautious, not wanting to draw attention to herself, especially not while she was hauling the axe that a few would definitely recognize.
By the time she reached the spiders, the mud and muck would have been washed clean from her in a swiftly falling rain, a brief storm that seemed as if it was sent just for her, to cover her tracks.
Soon, she arrived at haven, and left the axe with the corpse, a slow smile creeping upon her lips.
"Soon, Snaga, you're going to go hunting a dear little friend of mine." As she spoke, she flipped feathers one by one at the ground in front of the body. "And you'll be bringing her to me. She and I.. oh, we need to have words."
Registered Member #1083
Joined: 7:29:11 pm GMT 06/25/07
Posts: 1519
Walking back from the Northlands Village as he had been doing lately, Elvith came across the footprints. Staring at them, he noticed how deep they were, as if something extremely heavy had walked that way. He glanced left and right, squinting, and then followed the trail to the woods north of the Watch. There, he found a part of the explanation…
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Something was buried there, but was not anymore. The elf looked over his shoulder, as he always did when he was alone. He turned on his feet, and continued following the trail, now heading west.
He reached the borders of the Adumbral, and the spiders’ chitter came to him clearer every second. The footprints were still deep, but not so clear now, probably due to the vermin’s constant pacing. Elvith grumbled and continued slowly.
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“Hm, this looks odd”, he said, as he picked up what seemed like wrappings of… a mummy? The elf leaned against a tree and idly drummed his fingers on it, thinking. Focus, Elvith. He pushed off and glanced around, making sure he was not followed. The footprints went on west, but were increasingly difficult to follow; he knew little about outdoors tracking, which made it even harder.
Finally, he sighed as he stared at the massive entanglement of webs covering good part of the tracks. Elvith bordered it, hoping that the footprints would appear on the other side, but couldn’t find anything.
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He would have to get a proper tracker for this, he thought. Still, he was more concerned about what was in the opening. Probably someone whose body was not to be found; but why wasn’t it there anymore?
With that, he turned and head south, slipping into the shadows again.
[ The Island of Thain ]
Rise of the Dragon
