Night's Embrace: Part 1--A Touch of Darkness

[Shayuri]

"It can't JUST be assassination of the Princess," Sulannus muses darkly.

"If I had to guess, I'd say they're going to USE her death for something. Offer her to a demon or something. It wouldn't be enough just to kill her. They'd want to make her the engine of their great comeback. That would be true revenge."

 

[Legildur]

"Some dark ritual?" queries Blunt. "Maybe there is more information in the library, or maybe the Church, about such things. But I didn't find it."

 

[jkason]

Titus Farrab, human ranger

"It can't JUST be assassination of the Princess," Sulannus muses darkly.

"If I had to guess, I'd say they're going to USE her death for something. Offer her to a demon or something. It wouldn't be enough just to kill her. They'd want to make her the engine of their great comeback. That would be true revenge."

Titus nods.

"Night's Embrace fell apart 'cause of a divination," he muses. "And now the side of light has its own prophecy to bolster it. Hells, I don't know enough about magic to say one way or the other, but if you kill the princess, doesn't that make the prophecy wrong? And if one's wrong, maybe that means there's a way to make the other wrong, too. Seems something a demon lord might be happy to trade for, killing the future bringer of a Golden Age."

Then the broad-shouldered man frowns and sighs. "But after all that, we still got no real clue what they're planning, or how to find or stop 'em. And we still got no way to warn the princess."

He shrugs. "Suppose we should be used to that by now. Feels like fate's been weighted against us ever since we just barely scraped out of that alley."

 

[Rystil Arden]

*Blunt read something about a caveat in the prophecy that she would preside over a Golden Age 'if she survived' or something like that--he didn't catch the exact wording, which is at the Chronicles in the Royal Archives. Also, one was a prophecy, which is understandably hazy since it was about future events. The other was a set of powerful divinations of the present, which can be certain.*

 

[Shayuri]

"If we could figure out that stone, we might have a way to warn her," the elf lass says. "As for the cult...well, the information we have so far is open to the public, so we can assume they know at -least- that much, and since it's a prophecy..."

She pauses thoughtfully.

"Do you recall when the prophecy was first made? How long has the cult had to prepare for this?"

"Maybe we can get some information too, from Kel's teachers. A wizard skilled in demonology might have some idea what powers would be interested..."

 

[Legildur]

"Maybe if Kel put his ear to the ground he could find someone who might know something about the cult," suggests Blunt. "A sort of subject expert."

 

[jkason]

Titus Farrab, human ranger

"Maybe we can get some information too, from Kel's teachers. A wizard skilled in demonology might have some idea what powers would be interested..."

Titus nods. "Maybe, though it's probably better not to go mentioning demons right away. The gem first, then if Kel can use that charm of his to get in tight with the teacher, maybe he can ask a question or two 'bout demons without someone deciding he's a terrorist."

 

[Boddynock]

Kel nods in agreement to his companions' musings.

"I'm not sure I'd want to give away too much information, though. Don't forget, we seem to be dealing with a cabal of wizards."

Here he stops and grins. "Did you like that? 'Cabal' - that's a good word, eh? I read that the other day."

A quick frown crosses his face. "Am I saying it right?"

"Anyway, we don't actually know who might be involved. But yeah, I'll try and find out. And try to get some idea of how to use this ... gem." He uses a term which he certainly learned in the Armpit, then flushes guiltily when he realizes that it's not one he's heard any of the others use.

"Sorry."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"My Common is not flawless, but as far as I can tell, you're saying it just perfectly, Kel," Nhalia replies, "You may be right about a cabal, though that information seemed to suggest that the cult was destroyed. Also, I seem to remember learning that Demonology is illegal in Sundaria, so you might not want to ask the teacher about that--they might take it the wrong way, think that you want to become a demonologist, and kick you out of the class, or something."

 

[Boddynock]

"Oh, yeah - thanks, I hadn't thought of that. Well, I'll ask first about the gem. That's a solid starting point in contacting the Princess, and we need to do that."

"I need to do that."

"Then I'll try and find out if anybody here has specialist knowledge about a variety of topics. And if I can, I'll ask about demons and the cult within the context of that."

"How does that sound?"