Registered Member #24078
Joined: 3:40:59 am GMT 05/14/17
Posts: 1715
FIRE
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A group candle sputters in the drafty attic, casting a dim glow over another parchment...
FLAMES
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- They spread. - Flames of Andarus - Led by Pious and Respected by the Great Houses - They Bring order and Light - They erase minds. Destroy free will. We have felt it. - The Poor cannot fight them, nor can the knights. - Fire cannot be fought with Fire. - The Houses must stop feeding the flames. - Only then, will they die. - Houses do not care. - We must make them care. - Make them feel the flames. - Maybe then, they'll put them out. - We know which house to begin with.
The knave's patrol took him beyond the main curtain walls, this night to the estates of House Montaine. They were a proud house, a house of knights and well regarded soldiers. It was their house who had volunteered even to help guard and secure the knight's barracks from infiltration. They were loyal, obedient, and dependable, everything a King could ask of his knights.
On this night, one of the scions of House Montaine was to come of age, or so the knave had heard. There was to be a party, a private affair as these sorts of gatherings are oft to be. He continues, making his way through the Blackmere streets until he sees the mansion looming in the distance.
He investigates a moment finding the manor locked, the party concluded. He knew it was over, of course, but his task was not complete, not yet.
A knight soon approaches him, one of their newer additions. A foreign solider turned Kreisian. He remembers the face, even in the dark of the night.
He never forgot faces.
He begins. He had all the words ready, days before. Seeds in hand, ready to be planted. Or maybe it was better to call them sparks. He mentions that some party-goers had mentioned something was amiss here; that he was sent to check in on the house. A lie. They didn't of course, they would not do such, but does the knight know this? The knight reassures him that all is well, and it has been dealt with. This is good. Houses liked to deal with their own issues. In private. He knows though. He was there and saw it with his own borrowed eyes.
It would be ill for them. For on this night one of their sons did in fact come to age, but another, a daughter, had awakened too, or rather the sleeping magics within her blood did. If the Flames learned of this, what would they do? Would they suffer a noble with such growing powers to go unchecked? Or would they do as they have done to the others? He can see the doubt now in the knight's eyes - the worry that word of the accident has indeed escaped their walls.
Worry that the Flames would find them.
The knave leaves and respects their privacy, returning to his patrol and waiting for the spark to light.
Registered Member #24078
Joined: 3:40:59 am GMT 05/14/17
Posts: 1715
SEARCHING
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Sometime ago...
The man known as Renault moved into the circus tent, one hand opening the veiled entrance, the other resting upon a blade at his hip. The woman beyond did not seem bothered by his intrusion, in fact she simply looked to him and gestured with a hand clinking with jewelry.
"Sit, Renault."
He pauses, the other denizens of the Circus that had invaded in home had been tricksters at best and dangerous terrors in most other cases. His ongoing investigations into the disappearances of some of the city's nob-
"Sit, Slyph...Skinwalker...."
He pauses, slender fingers find the hilt again. The veiled woman beckons again.
"I see far more than what you hide..."
He considers skewering her, but his curiosity prevails and he finds his way to the seat.
"Very good. Let us begin..."
He looks down to find his palm in her hand. He watches, grimacing in pain as she begins to draw forth a card from within, one covered in silvery blood...
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Not so long ago...
A lone traveler walks the roads that lead northward out of the city of Steinkreis.
The strange pointed hat is tossed aside, falling into the dusty road alongside an old walking stick. The figure tucks the half-spent wand that was lashed to the staff back into his belt and then flips the robe he had worn inside out, changing it from a drab and dusty brown to a rusty red doublet. He runs his slender fingers over his face and the messy grey beard and whiskers recede and he is left with only road worn stubble as the lines of the stolen wizard's face fade to a younger visage.
The City looms behind him as he turns his eyes northward, sparing a single glance back to the city he had called home. All his life he had walked among the denizens there, feeling as they felt, speaking as they spoke. He had hunted them and he had saved them, experiencing the extremes of both. He had thought he had understood them, but like many things the more one learns of something, the more one realizes that they know less.
He could no longer serve his home, if anything he had become a danger to it. His kind were not meant to meddle in the affairs of humanity for so long.
What then was their purpose? He finds himself wondering. He had met few of his own kind, but he recalled one. A wild thing in the north, little more than a beast, yet one his fate seemed tied to nonetheless...
Registered Member #24078
Joined: 3:40:59 am GMT 05/14/17
Posts: 1715
HABITS
Within a secluded forest glade a lone campfire crackles inside an overgrown tower. The vines and growths seem to envelop the crumbling elven structure, but within it a fresh pile of parchments seem to accumulate in the dust and dirt...
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- LESS PEOPLE HERE - HARDER TO HIDE - THEY KNOW US - ELVES SEE TOO MUCH - DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM - VE'DUI - HELLO - WALK AWAY, SEEM DISTRACTED - THEY ALWAYS ARE DISTRACTED - MUSIC - ART - WATCH LEAVES FALL - DO IT A LONG TIME - NO WHERE TO HIDE - ONLY TREES - THEY CAN HIDE IN TREES - THEY ARE AFRAID OF THIS TOWER - NEW HOME - NO SIGN OF WHAT I SEEK - NAMARIE - GOODBYE - WHY SO MANY TREES? - TOO HARD TO HIDE
The creature sat upon the edge of the elevated walkway, one built within the tangle of ancient trees. He sits, silent and observant as the leaves drift lazily from the crowns above and twist and swirl in the still air as they slowly descend into the darkness below. Around him, elves too seemed to drift about as listless as the falling leaves, each flowing like wisps or ghosts as they went about their business, whatever that may be, for the day.
Was it day? He had a hard time knowing. The crowns of the mighty trees obscured much of the sunlight and only by climbing to their summit could one see the stars and moons here. No, here, you felt it. It was warmer, despite the chilling tree that grew in the center of this place. It must be day.
He ponders this for a long while, watching the leaves fall. He was practicing. They asked many questions of him when he first arrived. Where was he from? A half-elf? Was his elven kin of their wood or another? When did he begin to play the lute? Slowly, they questions had started to decline and they seemed to lose interest, or perhaps they simply were taking their time.
They were so slow to him. This place was the same. It was not like the city where time itself seemed to speed along, threatening to leave you old, tired and hungry if you thought for a moment to ignore it.
Another leaf falls and lands upon his lap. He picks it up in slender fingers and looks into it as if it were a silvered mirror, noting how the veins within it were arrayed and counting the one hundred twenty-two discolored specks that adorned it.
Finally, he lets it fall to find its place among its kin below.
Registered Member #24078
Joined: 3:40:59 am GMT 05/14/17
Posts: 1715
FATES
Within the crumbling elven tower, deep in the overgrowth of the Feywood forest, a new sheet of parchment joins a growing pile of the same...
FATE
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- I Found her - ..... - Maybe she found us? - The one from before. - The one the seer saw in our palm. - It was not a trick. - She is real. - Thinks she is a cat. - Pretty close. - Always ready to pounce. - Dangerous. - Said fey in the forest are at war. - Knows of our kind, our history. - Dangerous. - Stars are falling, men and elves and fey seek them. - Must learn more. - Maybe the elves will know. - ..... - It is good to not be alone.
Outside, the rain patters, dripping in long lines from the thick canopies above. Within the crumbling old tower, the changeling rubs the metallic shield again with the hem of his cloak. He had been at the task for hours, occasionally adding more dirt to the cloak and scrubbing the metal.
Only now had the old elven shield at last begin to become reflective. He picks it up, looking into the shiny surface and seeing his vague outline, just enough to see his own empty eyes between the various vinelike engravings that had covered the old shield. He always liked mirrors, and over the last several weeks he had lamented that he did not bring one with him when he left the city.
The elves didn't seem to have many. Maybe they preferred looking into water, or at one another. Maybe it is because they never change and never have a need to behold themselves.
He sets it down, propping the mirrored thing in the corner. His thoughts race back to his encounter with the other changeling. She had told him things. Curious things. Things about their kind, about the fey, and the stars. He wanted to trust her, but he knew their kind were experts at lying and manipulation. Had she manipulated him? Did he mean to do the same?
He'd need to learn more. Line up the facts; the details. He was good at this.
He'd need to start with the elves.
He spares one last glance to the mirror, but now within its shiny surface stood not a changeling, but a handsome elf.
Registered Member #24078
Joined: 3:40:59 am GMT 05/14/17
Posts: 1715
GUIDANCE
Within the frozen north, tucked under a pile of furs upon a bed in the outposts near Craggen Village is a note...
RIKRJACKS
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- Big - Mind is like haze - Loud, mostly. Some are too quiet for thing so large. - They have caretakers, men who guide them. - Keep them safe, and keep others safe from them. - Should they be controlled? Do they know? - Giant blood from rituals makes them like they are. - Do they care? - They are big. - They cook well. - They need their guides, and they need them - Don't make them mad. - They are big
The bitter cold hung over the logs of the cabin like a wet blanket, or in this case, one that had frozen into place. The stoic men who lived here mull about, waiting for the dark and cold to flee for a few scant hours before the next storm. They joked, drank and smiled to one another, despite their circumstances.
The Rirkjack didn't seem to get the joke.
The man kept his distance from the lumbering thing. He didn't like the way it looked at him. Most men looked at him once; saw him for what he was pretending to be, then moved on. But this thing, it just kept staring, like a dog that smelled something off. Something wrong. Something dangerous.
He moved outside, putting some distance between him and the giant-blooded thing. As the snow swirled around him he thought of those rugged folk inside, and how they valued what was useful rather than what was right in many cases. Pragmatic by necessity.
They suffered these giant-bloods, and even dragonkin from what he heard.
Would they suffer a skinwalker?
Or are was the changeling he met in the woods right? Was she correct about how they will never understand the creature that can only lie?
He shakes the ice off and enters back into the lodge, joining the others as the hearty meal was served by the towering Rikrjack.
Registered Member #24078
Joined: 3:40:59 am GMT 05/14/17
Posts: 1715
COMPANY
Blowing within the frozen gales of the north and left covered in piling snow is a parchment...
"BUNNY"
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- Old but moves like the young. - Curses like them too. - Smokes laudspire herbs. We know the smell. - Can be Angry and Sad at the same time. (Learn this). - Knows our secret. - Says she Pities us. - Maybe one day I'll know why. - Wants to save her son. Chases stars to do this. - We help her, she helped us. - Teaches us much, without knowing it. - We hope she finds what she is looking for. - Old.
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Upon the other side of the parchment is more...
LEGEBRUIN? LEGUHBREWIN? LEGEYBOONEN? ...
ELF
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- Dour. - Pacted with winter fey named... -Surowknock? - Sir-O-Knack? - Suronack.. - SURUROWNOK? - It is a tree, in his home - From the Feywood. - Eyes glow green when he is angry. - Knows our secret, but does not care. - Maybe thinks we are fey? - Are we? - Say much while saying little. (Learn this). - I want to know his secrets. - I've not been able to see them. It is usually easy. - His are difficult. - But there is wisdom in there. - And Sadness.
[ The Island of Thain ]
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