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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3479818" data-attributes="member: 143">I was tempted to have the elf sitting in a crimson robe when he woke up but I figured that might be too much. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Today we get more insight into everyone's favorite scheming cleric:* * * * * Chapter 153SCENE IN A COFFEEHOUSE“Coffee and milk, hold the spice, right?”“One of these days, Travos, I will order something different, just to surprise you.”The server laughed, and handed over a mug full of steaming liquid across the high bar.  The young man took it, grinning as he inhaled deeply of the rich vapors rising off the beverage.  “Ahh, that’s the stuff.”He headed across the crowded interior of the café.  The place was one of about a dozen such establishments within a few blocks of the University, in Camar’s Trades Quarter, and like all of them was almost always full of students and young tradesmen, talking, studying, or simply enjoying a few moments respite from the hustle and bustle of the working day. He was known here, and a number of people greeted him as he made his way to the back of the café, looking for a table.  His smile was warm as he clapped a few men on the shoulder, and it grew wider as a few women shot him appraising glances as he passed.  But it looked like the place was full, until he saw a familiar face at a tiny table crowded into a niche in the far corner of the coffeehouse.  The man had a small collection of student folios spread out on the table before him, but he pushed them aside and made room as the young man approached.  “Ah, Licinius, my studious young friend.  How fare you this day?”Varo grinned and laid down his mug on the table.  “Better, now that I’ve had my daily dose of the black bean.”  The older man smiled back.  “I hear through the grapevine that you have a new assignment.”Varo’s smile retreated somewhat.  “Yeah, they’re sending me down to the Archives.  Dusty old books that nobody’s read in a thousand years.  Should be dull as dry toast.”“I shall certainly miss our philosophical arguments.  You’ve been able to make me reevaluate some of my positions.”Varo laughed.  “I find that difficult to believe, Patrides.  You have a way of turning a foe around, until he doesn’t even know what side he was originally on.”Patrides shrugged.  “What can I say, the gift of rhetoric is one that almost demands to be shared.”“I guess I’ll need to move up to the Gold Quarter.  The new position will include a promotion to Third Rank, and includes a billet in the rectory of the Great Cathedral.”“Your career track continues to ascend.  I had always marked you as one likely to reach a high rank in the clergy.  You have real gifts, Licinius.”Varo shrugged, embarrassed.  He looked around.  “I’ll miss the Trades Quarter.”Patrides lifted his own cup, a beaten old mug that held a deep green tea.  “The Gold Quarter isn’t a world away.  You could always come visit, and try to cast down my citadels of words over a few cups of that black ooze you favor.”“I’d like that,” Varo said.  He looked up as a young woman walked by.  She had reddish-brown hair, cut short, and she looked very familiar.  He frowned, trying to place her.  She saw some friends, who waved to her.  As she went over to their table, Patrides shook his head.  “She is pretty.  It is too bad that it cannot be.”Varo turned back to him.  “What do you mean?  The church doesn’t require celibacy... at least not for low-ranking acolytes.”Patrides’s smile was sad.  “It is not that, my friend.  You know why it cannot be.”Varo felt a cold feeling in the pit of his gut.  He looked up, past the woman, past the tables, past the young people gathered in the coffeehouse, to the large window that faced out toward the street outside.  A wind had come up, cold enough to make him shiver even deep inside the warm interior of the café.  Something was approaching, a dark shadow that took on substance as he watched in horror.  Within the shadow was a skull, a huge horned skull wreathed in living flame.  Twin points of red burned in its eye sockets, impaling Varo with a terrible, knowing stare.  Wrenching his eyes away, he turned back to Patrides.  But his friend and mentor was gone, replaced by a blackened skeleton.  He opened his mouth to scream...* * * * * Varo opened his eyes with a start.  It was dark, but the cleric could sense the breathing of his companions nearby.  Shay’s fire had burned itself out, and an almost icy chill had settled inside the cave.  The cleric of Dagos quietly rose, touched his divine focus, and headed deeper into the mine, seeking out a secluded place where he could pray for his spells.</blockquote>

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