The Ancient Paths - Path I

[ae1vart0n]

Should he speak? He could not lie, he had never been very adept at it. The others had probably figured it all out anyway. Except for Dowkan. Dowkan just got lucky.

So how much should he say. He could not betray Radcliff, but there was no hope of salvaging his task at this point. Nor did he wish to salvage it.

He sat staring at his feet, about to betray his friend. To make an apparently powerful enemy. There was nowhere to run. Mars and the Tyrrans would hunt him. Radcliff wouldn't trust him now. Lady Syrriel's offer was getting more and more tempting.

But at this moment he had nowhere to go. He was trapped, and it wasn't worth going down with this ship.

"The task was simple, follow Nae'talis and his dwarf, and carry these two items indefinitely. No payment up front, only this key. It seemed harmless and I was bored enough to do it for nothing." He pulled the two items from his backpack.

"The key turns out to be his way of contacting me. It's also supposed to provide access to some reward at the end of this, though I doubt if it even exists. The scroll I haven't opened."

Now it was their turn. He shot a glare at Nae'talis.

"Now before you send me on my way, I want to know one thing. Who is he and why is he after you and the Tyrrans?"

It was two questions, but he was upset enough he didn't care to correct himself.

 

[Majin]

Nae'talis' eyes became even thinner slits as Hildor revealed all to everyone in the room. It took all of his self control not to reduce the elf to a cinder right there and then. His eyes shot to the key attached to the rolled up parchment and his memory quickly flickered back to his own encounter with one, the pieces falling into place.

"I would advise against opening that," he said coldly, without further explanation, as he passed a glance at Braggi for a moment before returning it to Hildor.

"The Red Wizards," he announces simply to all in the room, bringing up his hands, slightly startling his raven in the process. "You are clearly a larger fool than I thought if you've fallen in with that lot without realizing the implications..." he cuts off harshly, as he paces the room.

Realizing that he was actually the cause of this after all now, Nae'talis cursed the elf for his foolish nature to not be able to follow simple orders. If the Reds were actually behind this, the elf had to have been belligerent in some form to have received this punishment. In so doing, the elf had dragged all these other people into it as well. Nae'talis sighed harshly.

"They are after me," he reveals, turning to Braggi. "I am what you might call a renegade to my people. Thayans as you may know, generally have a "harsh" way about them. Something that I disagreed with in my formative years. I only wished to spend my time studying and bettering myself, but I was surrounded by fools half the time that made the process all the more troublesome. So I left, taking with me the dwarf that was accompanying me originally. One thing about the Red Wizards is, that they do not take kindly to losing one of their own. They have pursued me ever since. I have attempted growing my hair out to help disguise myself," he explains, pulling the crown of his hair closer to his scalp to better reveal the tattoos atop his head, "but they are quite resourceful when they want to be and it has not helped much to deter them."

The young Thayan pauses for a moment as he looks about the room, gauging the atmosphere, as he caresses a piece of his silk scarf between his fingers. "Why they would plan to attack you I see no reason for. It makes me think they have other motives that just happen to cross with my presence here, so it is doubtful if I simply continue my flight from them that they will cease their plans to attack you, but I will go if it is preferred by your people," the wizard concludes, in a bout of the largest bit of humbleness anyone was likely to ever get from him.

 

[Dhes]

Hrolf listens solemnly to first Hildor's story and than to Nae'talis' his tale. After Nae'talis lays out his history with The Red Wizards, Hrolf breaks his silences. Father Braggi, my judgment says that Nae'talis and yes even Hildor are the victims here. Nae'talis because of his past, and Hildor because of ignorance and lack of judgment." scanning the two briefly, "I would suggest paying Hildor's employer a visit, a threat this close to home can't be ignored."

[sblock]Sorry not sick, just lazy, and playing with my new phone and demanding friends.. [/sblock]

 

[hippocrachus]

~ The Adventurers ~

Braggi listens intently to first Hildor, then Nae'talis, and then again Hrolf. He rubs his smooth frost-blue chin in concentration before hardening his features and passing judgment.
"Ignorance of the law does not make breaking it any less illegal, Brother Hrolf," Braggi says severely. "I already knew of your...situation with the Red Wizards, Nae'talis. Apparently, your rebellion towards the edicts of Thay has earned you the attention of other organizations besides the Red Wizards. I have half a mind to send you in chains back where you belong." Braggi's eyebrows arch, daring the young mage to question him. "Law is law. Here or in Thay. Tyr does not pick and choose which laws to obey, and neither do I."
He turns his attention to Hildor and gives him a glare no less powerful than the one he gave Nae'talis.
"I have given you more than enough opportunity to right your wrongs, Hildor. You could have died today. Tyr willing, you've learned your lesson. That said, if you mean to have anything more to do with this 'Mars' or the Red Wizards, you can do so elsewhere." He turns suddenly to Dowkan and raises his voice just before a yell. "Do you have something you'd like to share with us? I didn't think so. This is a serious matter, Dowkan, and not one I will allow a surly dwarf such as yourself to make a mockery of by giggling over."
Braggi settles back in his chair, giving the effect of a robed judge residing over a courtroom, and eyes each member of the party in turn.

 

[Majin]

Nae'talis says nothing during Braggi's tirade. He did not expect the half-giant to send him back or chain him or nothing of the sort after what he said, but he knew that if he could escape his brethren and elude them for so many years, it would be a trifle to slip away from anything these Tyrrans could manage.

Instead he chose to wait, in silence, awaiting the reactions of the others before saying anything further.

 

[ae1vart0n]

Noticing Nae'talis had not answered his first question, Hildor began to speak, but was cut short by Braggi. After the lecture he decided it wasn't prudent to upset the man further. it seemed his patience, though greater than that of others, had been drawn thin to begin with.

The lecture had missed Hildor's ear. The laws had failed Hildor before, and their judgement was too harsh and unforgiving. The only lesson he had learned here was not to get cornered.

Hildor looked at Hrolf. He hadn't expected the cleric to come to his defense. Nae'talis' story wasn't quite what he had expected either. Turning toward Nae'talis, and then to Braggi, "I have no intention of helping Mars, but I'll deal with Red Wizards on an individual basis if that's ok." Having dealt with two Red Wizards, he wasn't ready to write them all off. "If not I should be going."

 

[Legildur]

Dowkan's eyes widen in mild astonishment at what the others reveal. 'A rebel Thayan wizard... of course!' he thinks to himself. He starts to seriously question his involvement in the whole mess. His fingers absently thrum on the blade of the waraxe 'lent' to him by Nae'talis, it is a reminder that no matter what happens the opportunity to wield such a fine waepon in battle should not be passed up by any dwarven warrior, regardless if it may cost him his life. Besides, he had accepted the payment for the service, and so shall he serve.

As the absurdity of the situation struck him fully, Dowkan begins to chuckle quietly to himself, until Father Braggi cuts hims short.

 

[hippocrachus]

~ The Adventurers ~

Seeing that his words didn't have the intended affect on the two in question, Braggi's features harden. Neither of them have any respect for authority and it was about time they have more than a slap on the wrist.
"Give me your weapons," Braggi says coldly calm. "You two will remain incarcerated until Tyr can pass judgment over you."
The half-giant rises from his seat and grabs those weapons proffered to him roughly. He doesn't bother taking Nae'talis' spellbook chained to the mage's waist. If the wizard is foolish enough to try anything on an entire garrison of armed soldiers with a novice repertoire, he deserves the gruesome death it'll reward him.
"Brother Jeof!" A cleric of an age with Hrolf enters the room with a meek expression. "See these two to the garrison. They will remain there until further notice." Braggi places a hand on Hildor's shoulder as the elf turns to follow his escort. The giantkin deftly removes Hildor's backpack in a flowing motion none would've thought those big hands were capable of.
As the two are shepherded away, Braggi sits back down and looks at Hrolf and Dowkan apologetically.
"I hate to do this, Hrolf, but I'm going to have to place you under house-arrest. High Cleric Kraki wouldn't want any harm to come to you, and I have no qualms taking up his cause." Hrolf and Dowkan share a feeling that perhaps the High Cleric's cause was really just Braggi's. Their two companions may have just suffered a deserved injustice to further that cause.

~ Nae'talis & Hildor ~

The cell the two unlikely companions share has a wash basin in one corner and bunkbed in the other. A guard sits on a three-legged stool whistling and jingling his keys a few yards down the hall the cell is located in. In the short span of a week, the former inn became Silverdown's first garrison doubling as a jailhouse. The structure is sound, too. The cold iron bars of the cell look as if they have been there for years.
There is no window in the cell.

~ Hrolf ~

Braggi excuses Hrolf and Dowkan from the room, but not after explaining to the young cleric what exactly his sentence of "house arrest" entitles.
"You are not to leave Silverdown, Hrolf; and do not test me on this. I will see that every man know of it."
Braggi states in no small terms that it is better if Hrolf simply stayed within the Temple of Tyr for the time being.

~ Dowkan ~

Nae'talis may be lending him his former servant's axe, but he's contracted to protect Hrolf, not the mage. Braggi reminds him nonchalantly as soon as the younger cleric is out of earshot.
"See that he honors his sentence, Dowkan. It's for his own good."
After that, Dowkan is left to roam around town freely.

[sblock]Not too much longer now. Dowkan and Hrolf are going to have to take responsibility to stock up on healing. Good thing the Tyrrans like them the most
Hopefully Nae'talis and Hildor can settle their differences in the short time allotted...[/sblock]

 

[Legildur]

Nae'talis may be lending him his former servant's axe, but he's contracted to protect Hrolf, not the mage. Braggi reminds him nonchalantly as soon as the younger cleric is out of earshot.
"See that he honors his sentence, Dowkan. It's for his own good."
After that, Dowkan is left to roam around town freely.

Dowkan nods slowly, "Aye, I'd not forgotten my responsibilities." With little to now do with the others, Dowkan simply returns to the temple to assist some more in the rebuilding.

 

[Majin]

Having been stripped of his weapons was of no consequence to the young Thayan. He knew he had gotten himself into this situation by revealing what he had, but given the circumstances he saw no other way. The Tyrrans would have been less aware if he had not and that could cost lives. Nae'talis may have been self-absorbed, but he was not genocidal.

Though there was the case of Braggi having known about his past already, which clouded much as to how much "new" information he had gave him. It also troubled Nae'talis greatly as to how he'd gotten that information. Only Red Wizards should have known. Rarely did they employ outside resources to regain their "property". Even if they had, for it to reach Braggi's ears was quite troublesome indeed. There was even less reason to trust now...

Still, the fact of the matter was, that he was content to be there so long as they'd left him his book to study from. He was not fool enough to take comfort in the "extra protection" awarded by the Tyrran's guarding their cell. He glanced deploringly in the direction of the solitary whistling guard.

He ignored the elf sitting across from him as he opened his spellbook and quietly began to read. If things got desperate he could always depend on his familiar, whom he had wordlessly commanded to take flight from his shoulder as they first came out into the open air. The raven had not been trained long, but there were some benefits the bird could provide in a pinch, and it would keep him appraised at to any suspicious goings-on outside. At the moment it was ordered to watch over the building the young wizard had found himself incarcerated in. It might not be enough, but it was something, the mage thought as he started to read.