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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Isida Kep'Tukari" data-source="post: 1633155" data-attributes="member: 4441">*Devon considers for a moment, his hands playing through his mistresses' hair.*  "If you go as Felsadora, you could say that you've come to tender the well-wishes of all those at Honor's Shield.  But say it with a sour little scowl, the woman seemed to resent nearly everything.  Or perhaps you could go as Lady Janel, and simply go in as a parishioner.  If she's staying at the temple, surely she must be going to at least one of the services, it would look a bit odd otherwise.  You could speak to her afterward.  The aftermass of services in churches like that are nothing but big gossip-fests, as I have reason to know," Devon says, leaning down to kiss Eradiel on the brow lingeringly.*After the evening's plotting Devon will send out the response, requesting that the guildmember meet them in a private room of the Wizard's Sanctum, an Inn that caters to arcanists and is well-known to be protected against scrying magic.*~~~  "I believe it's about a half-hour m'lady," he says, "and I'm afraid I have to go, I'm attending at this evening's services.  Go ahead and keep that book for a while, I can get it later when you're done with it.  You know how to get to the main sanctuary right?"*Once he's assure of that, Arnold will leave.*~~~  *Gwyn is able to hear plenty about the Myleron family.  They were a famous demon-hunting noble family for well over a century.  But their centuries of slaying demons had its price.  Ten years ago demon assassins were sent to the Myleron manor and slew nearly everyone inside.  The only ones that survived were Staeven and his mother.  His mother died shortly after, after leading a small army into the Abyss in retaliation for the attack.  None of them ever returned.**Staeven himself took up with a wizard and died fighting demons outside the city, but was resurrected by Orshallan and given the title of the Phoenix Knight.  He apparently lives in a modest house outside the city with just a servent or two to tend to the menial chores.  He has neither wife nor children, nor any siblings, and all of his immediate family is dead.*~~~*Ralam, Kaj Mok has a response to your request late in the evening.*"The lady says she'll meet you in a private room in the Wizard's Sanctum Inn tomorrow evening at sundown.  Come alone, she says," Kaj tells you, passing over a written invitation that contains virtually the same words.~~~*Torr, when you return home and go to your room, Rosalyn is there, dressed in a very fine gown... that is missing a few key pieces.  She lies on your bed a tray next to her holding a bottle of wine and two glasses.*"My lord, I...  I love you!  I love only you, and I can be so much more to you than those other girls can be.  Let me prove it to you!" she says, her voice both sincere and desparate.~~~*Aekir, you believe you recogize the ritual as a binding ritual, most likely binding some kind of celestial.  Of the participants in the ritual, there were five.  On was an older half-elf woman with black hair and green eyes, tall and thin, wearing robes of blue and silver, runes in Celestial embroidered on her gown.  Another was a middle-aged human man, short and plump with dark hair and eyes.  He wore thin leather gloves and robes of sable-black with his hood up.  The third was an aged human man with white hair and a long white beard.  He had sharp, angular features, pale blue watery eyes, and wore gray robes embroidered in flowing red designs.  He was was of middling height and weight and walked with a tall staff made of silvery metal with a red, star-shaped gem on top.  The fourth was a man who was of the northern barbarian stock.  His skin was white and covered with intricate, flowing black tattoos on all his exposed skin, including his face.  His eyes were entirely black, and he seemed to be fairly young and strong, with a stocky build.  His head was shaved and he bore a tall staff with a large clear gem in the center socket and four, smaller gems arranged around it.  The fifth person was clearly a Positai, a genasi touched by the plane of positive energy.  His slightly glowing yellow-white skin, wild white hair, and golden eyes were unmistakable signs of the breed.  He wore yellow robes and heavy golden jewelry.  Though he seemed not much older than the barbarian, the others treated him with deference.**During the ceremony there was no idle chatter.  The only words spoken in the ceremonial room were the words of the ceremony.  Fatigue and the intricacies of the language made it hard to remember it all, but you believe you got as many of the words as you could.**Waiting for a second ritual you have to wait three days, sipping the water from tops of the graves, eating the bodies of your rat victims to stay alive.  Occasionally you have spells of dizziness from being down here, or is it hunger?  Lack of sleep?  It's hard to tell.  Finally the second ritual starts.  The people seem to arrive in random order, their faces grave and focused.  Again they perform the ritual, passing around a dagger made of crystal, the hilt in the shape of a tower, the guard that of a circling dragon with a man on its back.**The ritual seems the same, but you can feel the words seeming to hum in your bones, racing over your brain.  The lights seem to hurt your eyes, and for a moment you thought you saw the summoned knight turn and look at you.  You blink, and he's looking at the queen, as he was before.  Your mission completed, you scurry back to the daylight.**Taking your rest, your dreams are odd.  You relive seeing the ritual again and again.  In some of the dreams you are one of the magicians, in others you are the knight, and once you are the queen.  Rising later in the day, you take both a large meal and a hot bath, lost in your thoughts.**Slinking into the Hollow to satisfy your hunger, you wait by one of the stinking trash piles.  Rats swarm on it, indifferent to your presence, even after you kill one of their number.  And when a sturdy dog shows up to feast on the rats, you grab it, dash it agains the wall and dismember the creature, throwing the limbs to the rats.  Gasping as you drink in its spirit, you hardly notice the pain at first.  Your eyes flutter open as see the pitiful dog has a death-grip on your left hand with its jaws.  You have to break its jaws to release your hand, and can see the wounds from its teeth very clearly.  The wound throbs slightly.**Going back to your home, you make a rough sketch of the diagram and dagger.  Bandaging your hand, you make your way to the Hydra's Glass after nightfall.  Wode's guard usher you over to its court immeditaely.  Wode has none of its usual companions here tonight and holds a glass filled with a potent drink of some sort in its hand.*"You've been gone long enough.  What did you find?" it asks, its voice carrying an unusual acerbic bite.[Here is what the dagger and diagram looked like.]</blockquote>

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