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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carnifex" data-source="post: 606775" data-attributes="member: 227">Meanwhile, Ebri had departed the main band outside the wizard's guild to visit the abode of the bookseller Karbal...* * *Ebri pushed through the heavy curtain draped over the entrance to the shop; a claustrophobically cluttered purveyor of books, small and cramped and so full of books that...She looked down.Yes, she wasn't imagining things. The floor was covered in books, stacked as if the planks below them were like more shelves, spines facing upwards and making an uneven footing. The whole place was draped in wall hangings and oddities, and lit gently by a few small windows.Lovely. She would not have to feign a willingness to come back here. She breathed in the musty scent of gathered knowledge.From somewhere in the back of the shop, a man pushed forwards; trimly tidy, slimly built and with a cropped beard and head of dark hair. His dark eyes flickered around, taking in this new arrivals appearance."Hello, can I help you with anything? Is there any book in particular you require?""Why, yes--" she said pleasantly. "I should like it very much if you had a copy of Feodor's Useful and rare plants --- or failing that, works by any of the old masters of botany." She stressed the important words slightly, intensifying her smile as she gazed around the shop, and behind the man. "It seems I was not directed wrongly. I was told to find Karbal, as he was said to be an expert in many of the very things I was interested in. Are you he, sir?"Karbal watched the woman carefully for a few moments. "I might have just what you need; please come through to the back, where I keep the rarer books."He led Ebri through, into a room quite devoid of books except for a couple of administrative ledgers. She followed Karbal through the dusty maze of books to the back room, alert but not concerned. It was well to be wary, but the Old Master would not have deceived her, or guided her needlessly here. "Yes, I am Karbal, and by your description I was given you are Ebri Zol?" His eyes glimmered silver for a moment. "Yes, you are, good." He smiled. "Don't worry; just a little trick I have been gifted with by the Prophet to help tell friend from foe, true agent from infiltrator. You've passed that test at least; always a god thing, I hate having to get rid of dead bodies, not my kind of thing." He sniffed. "Leave that to those trained as assassins, I say, since I quite prefer to avoid bloodshed. My talents lie in other areas, which is why I am the Collector for this area."He gestured for Ebri to sit down on one of the wooden chairs that sat around a stout wood table. "Now, from what I was told, doubtless you'll have a lot of questions, and unlike the last one who could aid you that you met, I have the time and inclination to answer them. Oh, never try and pry answers out of them anyway, they'll tell you what they think you should know when they think it a good idea, and not before. Well, let me begin; I know you were despatched with greater haste than usual and without the normal briefings. It was quite a sudden request by the masters, and urgency of needing a guard for the ward meant that there wasn't the time for the usual procedures. It falls on me instead to fill you in on a few matters. I've got some equipment for you too, gifts from the masters that I'm sure you'll find useful.""Now, how about some introductions, eh? Proper ones. I am Collector Karbal - and if you're wondering what Collector means, well, I gather information from other agents and pas them on to the masters, and they in turn tell me the orders to hand out to the agents. I am also a Shadowspeaker - that is a ranking priest of the Prophet. I operate from here, this building, and the agents all come to me. You're one of some half-dozen in this area at the moment.""Now, I know you are a priestess, an Initiate of the religion. We maintain a small shrine here in the city, well hidden from prying eyes. It's also good as a sanctuary should you need safety for any reason. Unlike the structures of the monasteries, you'll find our faith's organisation a little more haphazard out here in the real world, simply due to practicalities.""Well." He sighed tiredly. "How about I field any questions you have first, anything urgent you need and suchlike, then I'll fill in any more details you need to know, yes? This is most irregular, and I'm sorry for that, since most of the time agents are well-briefed before they're set loose. Though maybe the fact you've had a little practical experience now already means you might be a bit wiser than most of those just freshly assigned to the Purpose." With Karbal's introduction and opening remarks, she felt a tension leave her that she had not known she carried. She would note it, of course, and meditate on the lack of self-perception later, properly, but the reason for it seemed normal enough. The role she had carried--by duty, which she honored, but not by choice- could fall away safely. The illusion of the world could be abandoned in the presence of those who walked the true path. We share the commonality of the Purpose.  And while she took pride in her efforts to feign a cheerful, gregariously simple traveller, to acquaint herself with the bewilderingly illogical mythology and customs of Immar, to be released from it was nearly as welcome as the sound of monastery bells would be, and the mist-shrouded view off some mountain cliff. I am among my own. She gave a genuine, if restrained, smile, and supplied a few details of her own.  "I am Ebri Zol, yes-- Ebri is how I am called, while Zol is a name my clan gave me as a small child. I keep it for now in honor of their raising me, but of course, I will choose a new name if my masters should ever deem me worthy of such. And as for questions, it is true, I should have many, but I understand so little that it has been difficult to know even how to formulate the questions I might ask..."Ebri Zol, Ebri Zol... She could not remember a time when she had had one name, as the rest of the clan. She had always been Ebri Zol. Ebri the holy. It was the purest superstition, the result of an accident of infancy, the nonsense of blind faith stimulated by the need for stability in the face of seemingly capricious gods. False idols promised comfort, it was said, but it was sparing. More often they had seemed promote guilt and confusion and blame among those who professed to be guided by them. This she remembered all too well.That is the past. What parts of the past inform the present you will meditate on at the proper time, which is not now."My most immediate concern, as I'm sure you might guess, is with the safety of my ward, and the nature of the threat against her. And any information you might have that could help me to guard her and predict risks. What is the source of her blue coloring, and its meaning? Why is she shadow-touched -- and more to the point, what does that mean?"Karbal nodded at Ebri's question. "Wise to begin with such an important matter. I cannot explain all to you, but I can do my best with what I myself know of this...""Your ward's unique colouring is due to her heritage - strange blood lies in her veins. She is aasimar; that is, she is the result of holy energies on mortality. It comes from her fathers side, but unfortunately we don't know who her father is; it seems her mother, a Carthagian minerologist had the encounter resulting in Melisande while taking part in a deep cavern exploration mission.""This means we cannot fully know the meaning of her blue colouring, what ramifications it has beyond the purely racial differences it has laid upon her. This is more than a small obstacle because of the answer to your second question, on why she is shadow-touched.""To explain why she is shadow-touched and what that means is difficult because I myself do not hold all the answers. Doctrine handed down from the masters is... confused on the matter. I have the feeling that they do not all agree amongst themselves over it. Essentially, she is a descendant of one of a number of mortals who have been imbued with a divine spark as part of the Purpose, tools in part of a greater plan. When the Great Prophet locked away the power of the Elder Gods in the great ritual, some of the mortal archmages who aided him wove in faults so that they might try and use the power themselves; the Prophet ended up expending his very essence to keep the ritual stable, and as part of this he imbued a number of mortals nearby with his own life spark before ascending to become a true god - in death he gained divinity, and in the shadow-touched we have the remnants of his mortal self. The problem is that it seems that this mixing with her unknown aasimar heritage could cause unforeseen problems, so she especially of the shadow-touched needs to be watched.""Now, of foes you need to be vigilant for... There are many enemies we must face in this world. Be wary of the followers of ancient gods, whose schemes and plans hold danger for us all. Of the cults of Gilamesh, the cabal known as the Children of Gilamesh is the most powerful, who plot to return the Dragonlord to his ancient throne. The insidious disease-bringers of Kevayek too, who would see the world fester in pestilence. Many others as well - these are circumstantial foes. Further, be watchful for those who would pursue your ward for more personal reasons - Carthagian hunters, and those who would slay her because she is Carthagian or aasimar.""But all these foes are unaware of the truth; that she is shadow-touched. They have no understanding of the purpose, not even a comprehension of what the shadow-touched are. Yet there are some who do know of the shadow-touched; worse, who know of us, and the masters, and would eagerly see us all destroyed. They are the True Enemy.""They hide, concealed from the view of others behind the facades of the societies in which they bury themselves. Manipulating others to achieve their ends, plotting ceaselessly... they are the Dreamweavers, and we have waged a secret war against them for centuries, unseen by the throngs of common people who inhabit these lands.""The Dreamweavers are so dangerous because those who do their bidding often do not know it; attacks which seem to come from one foe may in fact be a Dreamweavers doing. Worse, they pose a threat to your ward - and you, and everyone - which is not just physical. They can corrupt the mind and the soul itself, and you must be ever vigilant for them.""Once, they nearly ruled the world, but during the Divine War the masters took the opportunity to smash their influence and scattered them. Now they hide, plotting for revenge and a return to power. Killing a shadow-touched is something theywould delight to do.""So beware. Guard the mind as well as the physical form, and if you ever discover that you are in danger from a Dreamweaver, be certain to notify a superior about it, so that the masters may hunt it down."* * *</blockquote>

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