seasong's Light Against The Dark II (May 13)
Indigo Veil
First Post
Dave_O: Done. I think. ^^;;
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seasong
First Post
Lettered Men of State
Bellos
In Theralis, one can generally offer a youth a few coins to carry something light (as a letter might be) from one end of a valley to another, or anywhere in the city itself. It's not a major facet of life, and it's the sort of thing the wealthy (particularly merchants) do to maximize their own time - one can sell to customers while a letter from you is delivered to someone else, rather than doing one or the other.
Bellos was hoping something similar held true here in the flat north. It turned out something did. And that something cost a great deal more than he'd expected - three month's pay for a soldier, roughly, to carry a letter.
Well, to be fair, that was the cost to carry a letter two week's journey through vicious wilderness to a foreign city, and find someone the courier didn't know... but still, it was rather expensive. He said he would consider it, and began considering how best to achieve his goal without relaxing the death grip on his well earned gold.
For a moment, he fumed. If he were Greppa, he'd just summon an archon of light and send the message directly himself. But he couldn't ask Greppa to do it, because Greppa was working with a fiend.
Five minutes later, Bellos was at a temple of Allas, cursing his own blindness. Ten minutes after that, the letter was gone from his hands, instantly transported to the south. The priests had seemed surprised at the idea - and indeed, none of their usual lantern archons knew the way, but Bellos gave them the name Greppa sometimes called, hoping that that one would know where Theralis was, at least.
It did. And indeed, when presented with the letter, and its purpose explained, had seemed mightily relieved, its glow brightening with the Purpose of Light. "I shall seek the first Temple I see, and ask that they bring the letter to Thelanna of Theralis of the Kept of Allas; and then shall I return to report to you that it has been done."
And with that, it had winked out, been gone, and returned. Now it was only a matter of how long it would take the letter to get to Thelanna directly.
His quest ended, Bellos left the temple, barely even considering that the priests there would soon send other letters, their own, and begin establishing communication with their southern brethren; that the convenience would overcome distance, and that the first beginnings of a communications infrastructure was being laid.
Entirely in the hands of Allas, no less.
Greppa
Greppa finished the last laborious page of his immense missive to Captain Agina. It covered, in as much detail as he dared, his suspicions about a war brewing among the gods, and how these things might impact Theralis and the loyalties of Theralis to the gods; and also where the information was coming from (Belial, that is, and books which had coincidentally been placed in front of him).
Completed, he hired a courier, paid the price without hesitation (to a trusted middle man, what the Theralese called a merchant, but who called himself a banker in the north), and put down an additional sum of half again, should the message be delivered within the next ten days.
He would have used a lantern archon, but he preferred to use a source removed from divinity.
Then he met with the others, and prepared for overland travel to the home of the Buhkenahk.
Bellos
In Theralis, one can generally offer a youth a few coins to carry something light (as a letter might be) from one end of a valley to another, or anywhere in the city itself. It's not a major facet of life, and it's the sort of thing the wealthy (particularly merchants) do to maximize their own time - one can sell to customers while a letter from you is delivered to someone else, rather than doing one or the other.
Bellos was hoping something similar held true here in the flat north. It turned out something did. And that something cost a great deal more than he'd expected - three month's pay for a soldier, roughly, to carry a letter.
Well, to be fair, that was the cost to carry a letter two week's journey through vicious wilderness to a foreign city, and find someone the courier didn't know... but still, it was rather expensive. He said he would consider it, and began considering how best to achieve his goal without relaxing the death grip on his well earned gold.
For a moment, he fumed. If he were Greppa, he'd just summon an archon of light and send the message directly himself. But he couldn't ask Greppa to do it, because Greppa was working with a fiend.
Five minutes later, Bellos was at a temple of Allas, cursing his own blindness. Ten minutes after that, the letter was gone from his hands, instantly transported to the south. The priests had seemed surprised at the idea - and indeed, none of their usual lantern archons knew the way, but Bellos gave them the name Greppa sometimes called, hoping that that one would know where Theralis was, at least.
It did. And indeed, when presented with the letter, and its purpose explained, had seemed mightily relieved, its glow brightening with the Purpose of Light. "I shall seek the first Temple I see, and ask that they bring the letter to Thelanna of Theralis of the Kept of Allas; and then shall I return to report to you that it has been done."
And with that, it had winked out, been gone, and returned. Now it was only a matter of how long it would take the letter to get to Thelanna directly.
His quest ended, Bellos left the temple, barely even considering that the priests there would soon send other letters, their own, and begin establishing communication with their southern brethren; that the convenience would overcome distance, and that the first beginnings of a communications infrastructure was being laid.
Entirely in the hands of Allas, no less.
Greppa
Greppa finished the last laborious page of his immense missive to Captain Agina. It covered, in as much detail as he dared, his suspicions about a war brewing among the gods, and how these things might impact Theralis and the loyalties of Theralis to the gods; and also where the information was coming from (Belial, that is, and books which had coincidentally been placed in front of him).
Completed, he hired a courier, paid the price without hesitation (to a trusted middle man, what the Theralese called a merchant, but who called himself a banker in the north), and put down an additional sum of half again, should the message be delivered within the next ten days.
He would have used a lantern archon, but he preferred to use a source removed from divinity.
Then he met with the others, and prepared for overland travel to the home of the Buhkenahk.
seasong
First Post
Leaving Tuoma
As they left, Greppa and Merideth rubbed their off-hand wrist gently. The bracelet was gone. The ghost sensation of something restraining their will was not. A quick glance between them told the story - never again, no matter how much the "guild" cost to join.
Greppa hastily summoned earth spirits into each of his companions and himself, and everyone sighed as strength entered them. It had felt odd, having merely human strength...
As the trio spotted Chatham and waved, a mighty explosion was heard in the distance behind them. Turning, they caught a glimpse of smoke trailing from behind the mountain ridge when.. a strange bird, with wings in four directions, a tail and neck like a serpent, and easily the most graceless avian face one might imagine, spotted them and dove.
Lightning built along its ungainly beak, and then discharged into Merideth... she stood and took it, and began to smile. It was unlikely that this bird was going to be much trouble. Then it swooped past Greppa and... except that it didn't. It stopped dead, its wings acting as efficient brakes, and then began spinning and hovering in place as it struck Greppa with its beak. Small sparks bounced off his earth skin and he fell flat.
The tiny ellini scribed a quick circle and Uripedas burst forth from it, shrieking into the air at the avian monstrousity. "Yes! Yes! Fight! Yes?"
"YES!" Shouted Greppa, and Uripedas zoomed past the ugly thing, pricking its hide and shouting something in a tongue foreign to the mortals below. Whatever it was, it worked. The creature reversed direction in a heartbeat and flew up at Uripedas, taking several sling stones to the backside from Bellos as it did so.
As the creature chased Uripedas fruitlessly (it was astoundingly maneuverable, but few creatures could match the sun hawk's raw speed), Bellos continued to nail it with bone crushing shots from his sling, and Merideth healed Greppa. Finally, it took off, screaming its wrath and Uripedas landed next to the trio and Chatham.
"Re-summon me! Please!?"
Greppa did so, grinning, and then, as the spell renewed, Uripedas looked at the retreating avian, "That bird - it's a lightning elemental manifest. Very bad. Hurt a lot of people. We chase, yes?"
And so it was on. A merciless slaughter of the cruel beast, lest it hunt others less capable of driving it off. Greppa, swinging from Uripedas' claws, pelted it with spells from afar while Merideth swung next to him, healing what little damage it was capable of dishing out against them.
At the end, Greppa and Merideth both were grinning. It felt really good to have those bracelets off. They rejoined Chatham, and began to head east to Chatham's drumming.
As they left, Greppa and Merideth rubbed their off-hand wrist gently. The bracelet was gone. The ghost sensation of something restraining their will was not. A quick glance between them told the story - never again, no matter how much the "guild" cost to join.
Greppa hastily summoned earth spirits into each of his companions and himself, and everyone sighed as strength entered them. It had felt odd, having merely human strength...
As the trio spotted Chatham and waved, a mighty explosion was heard in the distance behind them. Turning, they caught a glimpse of smoke trailing from behind the mountain ridge when.. a strange bird, with wings in four directions, a tail and neck like a serpent, and easily the most graceless avian face one might imagine, spotted them and dove.
Lightning built along its ungainly beak, and then discharged into Merideth... she stood and took it, and began to smile. It was unlikely that this bird was going to be much trouble. Then it swooped past Greppa and... except that it didn't. It stopped dead, its wings acting as efficient brakes, and then began spinning and hovering in place as it struck Greppa with its beak. Small sparks bounced off his earth skin and he fell flat.
The tiny ellini scribed a quick circle and Uripedas burst forth from it, shrieking into the air at the avian monstrousity. "Yes! Yes! Fight! Yes?"
"YES!" Shouted Greppa, and Uripedas zoomed past the ugly thing, pricking its hide and shouting something in a tongue foreign to the mortals below. Whatever it was, it worked. The creature reversed direction in a heartbeat and flew up at Uripedas, taking several sling stones to the backside from Bellos as it did so.
As the creature chased Uripedas fruitlessly (it was astoundingly maneuverable, but few creatures could match the sun hawk's raw speed), Bellos continued to nail it with bone crushing shots from his sling, and Merideth healed Greppa. Finally, it took off, screaming its wrath and Uripedas landed next to the trio and Chatham.
"Re-summon me! Please!?"
Greppa did so, grinning, and then, as the spell renewed, Uripedas looked at the retreating avian, "That bird - it's a lightning elemental manifest. Very bad. Hurt a lot of people. We chase, yes?"
And so it was on. A merciless slaughter of the cruel beast, lest it hunt others less capable of driving it off. Greppa, swinging from Uripedas' claws, pelted it with spells from afar while Merideth swung next to him, healing what little damage it was capable of dishing out against them.
At the end, Greppa and Merideth both were grinning. It felt really good to have those bracelets off. They rejoined Chatham, and began to head east to Chatham's drumming.
seasong
First Post
I've started the new thread:
Light Against the Dark III
Light Against the Dark III
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