Redclaw said:
[sblock=DM] Slowly a plan begins to take shape.[/sblock]
[sblock=Eldan (with a bit of Verulo)]It's simple really. The creatures follow certain patterns
Eldan, can see them easily. By dinner time
Eldan's figured out their patrol route (such as it is, it mostly consists of lurking in the forest and staring hatefully at any townsfolk that come into sight).
Dinner brings another shock. The helm, tucked casually under his arm, seems to grow warm when
Jeillia enters the room. With concentration
Eldan is able to call for a slight reddish glow, and the glow reveals several black eye-worms lurking in the thatch of the roof of the house.
None of his family members seems to notice the glow, not even
Jeillia.
Eye-worms is all that
Eldan can think to call them, inky black and formed of the shadows of darkest night each is a foot or so long and has a large red eye with a black diamond for a head.
Initially they are still, staring intently at
Jeillia, but after a moment they begin to wriggle animatedly and look about the room.
They can tell they're being observed.
Eldan dims the helmet's glow immediately, he hopes he has not tipped his hand yet.
As he picks up the house after dinner he feels a tugging on his heart, slight, but present.
In the shadows outside he finds a roguish looking fellow he remembers vaguely from his youth.
Verulo, who climbs things and seems to have been a member of half of the families in town at one point or another. And
Verulo is holding a statue in his hand, that of a strange man with silver wings on his shoulders, mist for legs and fire for hair.
For an instant
Eldan sees something in his mind. Like a memory,
Karothen, who was friends with
Jeillia. Standing in a column of silver flame.
Don't make the same mistake I did.
Jeillia's face, radiant and smiling in the silver light. Tears of joy streaming from her face.
Don't fight the puppets until you can deal with the puppeteer.
You see
Karothen *smote* by darkness. Jeillia's face dulled and weeping as though she doesn't understand why.
The Geeche has grown us in his garden.
A little man in a black robe is in front of you. Or something man like for it's legs are not those of a man; it is as small as a child, almost comically small with the huge staff that it holds.
I hid the truth of your wakefulness from him.
You can't see it's features clearly clearly just pair of red eyes, black diamond pupils. You feel a cold claw on your chin.
Still asleep this one. Good. Good. Nothing drastic. Not to waste. Just a bit of Lethe to make it all go away. In your minds eye the shiver-inducing claw strokes your cheek and forgetfulness washes over you.
He watches Jeillia, but not you. You can not alert her. He thinks the cycle broken, but he is still trapped by his own mind.
I was outside.
She called me back.
He struck me down. But I am the maker, even in the darkness I recreate. I am the opener, no barrier can block my path.
Soon I will call you. But not quite yet.
The statue grows quiet.
Verulo withdraws with the statue into the darkness.
The
daze swirls about you. You feel it now, like a living thing; a suffocating cloak you long to throw off.
Follow the plan. Wait for the signal. You hear the voice of an old warrior in your mind.[/sblock]