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Story Hour
The Thorns of Winter -(updated 8/1/2023)
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<blockquote data-quote="Nthal" data-source="post: 8634843" data-attributes="member: 6971069"><p><h2 style="text-align: center">March of Many Darks - 5/15/2022</h2><p></p><p></p><p>“You can’t be serious,” Doxx said pointing at the gesticulating banderhobb. “That’s an invitation?”</p><p></p><p>“I can’t think of a reason to stand there waving a book around,” Rosa said looking at the old woman reproachfully.</p><p></p><p>“Do we really need this book?” I said already knowing the answer.</p><p></p><p>“I don’t see how we can avoid it,” Sage responded.</p><p></p><p>“I agree,” Bookshelf said quietly. “Whatever knowledge is within its pages; it has been reviewed four times. And at least one of them is well informed enough that she wouldn’t have bothered if it were worthless.”</p><p></p><p>“You think Melisandre is all that?” Doxx said giving the slender warforged a sour look.</p><p></p><p>“She knew much about each of us,” Bookshelf continued. “She had reason and methods to know, and whatever her motivations, she doesn’t seem to be one to leave important knowledge unchecked and unheeded.”</p><p></p><p>“If…if…if…you are going to see…see…seek out Twisted Mirth, leave me <strong><em>out</em></strong> of it!” Kalborius stammered shaking his head back and forth.</p><p></p><p>“What about the oil?” Adrissa pointed out.</p><p></p><p>“That’s right,” I said, and I walked over and knelt by the shivering wreck of Kalborius who looked at me confused. “Do you have any in the stores here?”</p><p></p><p>“I…well…I think so?” Kalborius said confused at the change in topic. “I don’t keep track of the inventory, but I know it’s used for a lot of different things—”</p><p></p><p>“—How much?” Rosa interjected, rushing next to me.</p><p></p><p>“I don’t know…perhaps…well…I guess…”</p><p></p><p>“How much?!” Rosa stamped her foot in anger.</p><p></p><p>“Well, I think it is maybe a gold or two per flask—”</p><p></p><p>“Not the PRICE you idiot!” Rosa grabbed the man by his lapels, still soaked with ooze from the belly of the banderhobb. She shook him her teeth gritted in frustration. “How much do you have!?!?”</p><p></p><p>“Aaahh,” Kalborius stammered as the halfling continued to shake him. Rosa was then pried away by Sage as the he tried to speak. “Ah…maybe a tun?”</p><p></p><p>Rosa looked at the everyone quizzically while Adrissa and I shrugged our shoulders.</p><p></p><p>“That is about 36,000 flasks,” Bookshelf said after a moment calculating the answer.</p><p></p><p>Rosa smiled, “That is more than enough, assuming we can get enough morning glys we should have enough to cure—”</p><p></p><p>“—Cure?” Kalborius said warily, eying Rosa.</p><p></p><p>Out of the corner of my eye I saw Doxx shaking her head vigorously and waving her hands wildly trying to keep us quiet. Unfortunately, Adrissa had her back to Doxx and spoke up first, “To cure the plague in Denning before it spreads—”</p><p></p><p>“Plague!?!” Kalborius’ eyes bulged in shock as Doxx winced and cradled her head in her hands. His eyes then narrowed in realization, “But you need the oil to make…a curative?” He stood up and straightened his ooze-stained robe. “It should be kept here for safe keeping—”</p><p></p><p>Rosa smiled sweetly and looked at Kalborius. “You wouldn’t happen to have any morning glys here?”</p><p></p><p>The man frowned. “That blooms in the spring normally, but not here.” he said. “In the swamps near Bog-o-Narn usually. But it doesn’t keep, and there have been several Cannith alchemists that have been trying to discover a meth—.”</p><p></p><p>“—Well then…we need to make it closer to where the outbreak is,” Rosa continued. “Otherwise, the curative won’t keep either.”</p><p></p><p>“That…that makes sense. I can see if anyone is willing to transport it, I suppose.” Kalborius said slowly.</p><p></p><p>“Leave the oil here and we should guard it. Perpetrators could just walk off with—OOF!” The Blade started, before another snowball hit him in the back of the head. He whirled around and there by the window, squatted the banderhobb. It shook the water and ice off one hand, while in the other it clutched another large snowball, which it casually passed between its claws. It’s looked at the The Blade with a toothy grin that opened wider at The Blades seething glare. It then made a low croaking sound and stepped backwards and faded from my view.</p><p></p><p>“It likes you,” Doxx said bemused.</p><p></p><p>“If it is foolish enough to lead us to its master,” The Blade said grimacing beneath his cowl. “I suppose we should pay this ‘Twisted Mirth’ a visit.”</p><p></p><p></p><p>What I didn’t realize that he meant ‘right now,’ and not ‘after a good night’s rest in a warm inn.” Although it had little to do with The Blade’s opinion, but it was more the insistence of the banderhobb. It had little concern about our comfort, as it lumbered ahead of us enthusiastically. It noisily crushed the snow beneath its flappy feet, and it occasionally bent over to gather some snow it kicked up and threw a large ball of snow at us when we didn’t keep up.</p><p></p><p>Well, ‘us’ might be generous. It really just kept throwing them at The Blade, and only when its aim went wild did it pelt anyone else. And it wasn’t like we could really keep up with it as the creature had a maddening habit of disappearing behind a frost covered tree and reappearing farther ahead. Eventually it grew bored with its icy jabs and freezing taunts, and simply waited for us to catch up with it, before leading us onwards through the icy fields in front of the foothills.</p><p></p><p>Then the clouds broke open, and moonlight covered the snowy landscape, the first time in many weeks. The light was enough to foul my strange sense of perception, and I saw the frozen landscape like how everyone else would. The trees were scattered around us, and the ground was covered in frozen bushes and scrub. The sound of our boots or metal clad feet crunched through the snow as we made our way to a range of hills ahead of us, while behind the lights of Cattbron were nothing more than a dull glow over the horizon.</p><p></p><p>The hills were a decent distance from the town and my legs were already aching from the march. This wasn’t my idea though.</p><p></p><p>---</p><p></p><p>“What do you mean we can’t take the horses?” Doxx said with a look of incredulity on her face.</p><p></p><p>“There is no way we are going to bring animals anywhere near a hag,” Rosa insisted.</p><p></p><p>“Aren’t we more at risk of…being eaten?” Doxx exclaimed.</p><p></p><p>Bookshelf and Sage looked at each other and just shook their metallic heads at what was obvious to them</p><p></p><p>“Not if the hag really wants to talk to us,” I had said. “If she wanted to just kill us, or use us for stew, we would be dealing with something worse than banderhobbs.”</p><p></p><p>Rosa nodded, “Most natural creatures stay far away from hags, and magebred horses, while not natural are smarter than—”</p><p></p><p>“—Us—” Doxx muttered.</p><p></p><p>Rosa glared at the old woman and kept talking, “—most people.” At which Doxx narrowed her gaze at the halfling. “So best we stable them in town—"</p><p></p><p>“—and walk,” Adrissa said grimly shaking her head.</p><p></p><p>-------------</p><p></p><p>And so, we plodded forward, the hills slowly growing closer. I shivered and tried to rub feeling back into my arms. The cloak I wore seemed to leak my body’s warmth away into the night, causing shivers through my limbs. On horseback this wasn’t as bad, as the steed’s body was like a furnace below you. But now nothing held back the biting cold’s caress. I winced and shut my eyes. I was tired. Beyond tired. Maybe if I stopped…</p><p></p><p>“You need to keep moving.” My head snapped up and I shook some sense back into my head. The Blade was standing beside me and nudging me along, and he threw his long leather cloak across my shoulders, sharing some of his warmth.</p><p></p><p>“Th—th—thanks,” I chattered.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t mention it,” he said quietly. I glanced at his masked face under the cowl. There was some crusty snow still melting from a well tossed ball from our guide. I could barely see his eyes, but I could see them twitching and focusing on different things; the banderhobb, Adrissa, the occasional tree. But after a moment they focused on me again and his spoke in a hushed tone. “What was that earlier?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>I huffed a moment and barely shook my head. In then reached into my pouch and wrapped the copper wire around my finger, and I brushed my thumb along the edge while I looped a strand around us.</p><p></p><p>“I assume you wanted privacy,” I barely whispered. His eyes turned to glance at me, and I could feel him nod ever so slightly. “I felt something…like myself.”</p><p></p><p>“What does that mean?” I heard in my head, as he replied to my missive.</p><p></p><p>“It felt like that part of me that…makes me an Aasimar. I feel it when I create light or purge poisons or diseases. But there was something different about it.” I paused a moment and watched his face.</p><p></p><p>He had stopped looking around and his focus on was on me alone when the inevitable question came; “How did it happen?”</p><p></p><p>“Well, I am guessing it is because of something you are wearing, probably on your chest.”</p><p></p><p>“Why would you say that?” he asked suspiciously.”</p><p></p><p>“Because we were chest to chest when I felt it, and I don’t feel it now standing next to you.”</p><p></p><p>His eyes narrowed thought, processing what I said. “You are…observant.”</p><p></p><p>“And correct?” gave a small smile as the magical connection continued to keep our words private.</p><p></p><p>“Yes. It is a…token from my grandmother,” his voice said in my head.</p><p></p><p>“Can I, see or hold it?” I asked carefully. Something about the way he ‘spoke’ about it was evasive or perhaps just reluctant to share.</p><p></p><p>He didn’t respond immediately. But I felt his head move and I glanced and saw him nodding. He shouldered his bow and reached within his tunic and pulled something out. He cupped it in his hand as if he was trying to hide it from the world, before placing it in my right hand. I could feel a surge within me as it resonated with me, sending warmth up and down my back. I then cupped it and pulled it close to my face so I could look at it closely.</p><p></p><p>Wrapped in a network of fine chain, it was a shiny dark grey material that was shaped like a flattened spiral, similar to a snail shell. I turned it over in my hand and I could see nor feel any entrance or defect in its surface. I brushed my gloved thumb over the strange object, and I could feel it respond to my touch. Each brush sending a sensation of power through my hand. I bit my lip a moment as I regarded it, and I lifted the object closer to my face. Squinting at it revealed nothing new, so I decided to try something. I turned my head a little and placed the flattened side of it and pressed it into my cold cheek.</p><p></p><p>The flare of warmth was a wonderful feeling, but that sensation was all too brief as I could now feel a connection. My vision was distorted as I was torn away from the hillside and raced among the clouds and beneath the stars. I was moving rapidly through the night, and I crossed over land and then a great ocean. I could see that I was rapidly approaching an island. Not a small one, but a huge one that put places like Nelanther to shame. I barely could grasp the size as I felt drawn to a city there, deep in the woods. The stone walls and causeways were old, but it wasn’t abandoned or in decay. I could see and feel points of energy moving around the streets, some faint and some bright. My senses then were pulled towards a large ziggurat in the middle of the city, and I was pulled to its edge.</p><p></p><p>My awareness stopped suddenly there. I felt pulling, but I couldn’t approach the entrance to the pyramidal structure. I could see in the stone nearby carvings, each ablaze with a bright white light, but the lettering was unfamiliar. I tried to move my perspective and found that I was in the grip of something I could not directly perceive. But I felt it hold and constrain me. As I kept trying to pull away, I found my awareness unable to shift away. Then as I struggled, I saw a light approach from the ziggurat. It was almost blinding as it enveloped me, and I realized it wasn’t one light, but a swarm of them. I could feel them swirl around my mind, and I could hear a cacophony of voices in my head. Each one spoke over the other, but more than that I could feel emotions from each light.</p><p></p><p>Surprise. Alarm. Concern. Curiosity. Contempt. Fury. Hate.</p><p></p><p>But most of all, Love. Not for me. Not for a particular specific light. A love not just for lights around me, but for lights in the causeways. Lights across the island. Light across the world. All the lights.</p><p></p><p>I struggled with the flood of emotion coursing through me, and I could feel not warmth, but heat flare through my body and up my spine. My back arched in pain as I could feel my wings appear in a blinding golden blaze. My mind was assaulted by more and more emotions and thoughts that slipped past me in my struggle to put everything into context. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I grasped the basics on what I felt. Something only described to me once, in tones of sadness and regret because it was something I could never experience.</p><p></p><p>Or wasn’t supposed to be able to.</p><p></p><p>Each light was a soul; I knew it. I had pulled enough people away from the veil of death that I knew the contours of them well enough. I could remember being nothing but a soul once in The Fugue as I thought I would meet my god in person. But I remembered that while my soul felt not stronger, but it had a radiant quality compared to others. I thought at the time it was the Strands and their connection to me, but now I realized that it was simply because of who I was; a daughter of a celestial.</p><p></p><p>But these souls put me into my place, as my soul was a best a pale imitation of their glory. And as I hung there in their judgement I had only one explanation for their source, a legend of their creation as the offspring of not an angel. But from a god.</p><p></p><p>Elves.</p><p></p><p>As that revelation crossed my thoughts, I felt a wave of rejection. The journey I had just begun, played through my senses again, but in reverse and in far greater speed. Within a the briefest of moments my vision returned to where I stood, light fading from the shocked face of The Blade, and the others around me. I realized that I somehow was in the air above the snow, and I quickly fell into the snow below me, the icy cold a slap to my body, as much as the slap to my soul a moment ago. I lay there panting in a daze as I could hear echoes around me.</p><p></p><p>“What in Khyber was that?”</p><p></p><p>“Is she alright?”</p><p></p><p>“Those wings were beautiful—”</p><p></p><p>“—Nevermind that they scorched The Blade.”</p><p></p><p>“Are you alright? Say something.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m fine citizen—”</p><p></p><p>“—Not you! HER.”</p><p></p><p>“That manifestation was greater than her prior ones.”</p><p></p><p>“Not now Bookshelf.”</p><p></p><p>“Myrai?”</p><p></p><p>I could feel my shoulder being gently shaken, and my eyes focused on Adrissa, who knelt in the snow next to me. Her face was streaming tears, but they weren’t tears of pain, but the tears of someone in throes of exultation. Like a window to the divine had opened and shut before her.</p><p></p><p>I blinked a moment and turned my head to look at my open hand, where The Blades’ token was. There in bright sigils was an elven word. I snapped my hand closed and started to push myself up, when Doxx and Sage lifted me to my feet.</p><p></p><p>“What was that all about?” Doxx asked me accusingly. “A blazing light in the middle of the night is only going to attract problems.</p><p></p><p>“What?” I asked wearily. “Like a banderhobb?”</p><p></p><p>Doxx’s face went red for a moment, “I know we are expected but still! That light show could probably be seen a league from here!”</p><p></p><p>I looked at him, and I am sure that my face was a muddle of confusion and disbelief. “What?” I asked.</p><p></p><p>“Darling,” Rosa said with a bemused smile. “<em>You</em> were a blazing light, greater than…no the<em> only</em> one we could see.”</p><p></p><p>“What triggered that?” Sage asked pointedly.</p><p></p><p>“Is it something repeatable?” Bookshelf quickly followed up with.</p><p></p><p>I glanced at each member of the group, but I really only wanted to see what was on The Blade’s face. His head had only the barest of movement, but he was clearly shaking his head no; at least to me.</p><p></p><p>“I…I…can’t explain it. But I don’t think that would happen again,” I pleaded and swallowed, hoping the others would believe me.</p><p></p><p>“How?” Sage asked, as his towering form moved next tome and looked down at me, his eyes bore into me, searching for a reason to disbelieve me.</p><p></p><p>I wasn’t frighted of Sage normally, but it was only now that I realized how small I was, compared the juggernaut that easily weighed over four times my own body, armor and all. He could have easily broken me into two with the barest of effort if he chose, and I doubted I could even scratch his metallic skin in defense. I nervously returned his gaze and took a deep breath to steady myself and reiterated, “I don’t think it would happen again. I can’t say why.”</p><p></p><p>“Perhaps it has something to do with…this?” Doxx said. I inwardly groaned as I turned to look at her, and there hanging from her staff was The Blades’ token. I didn’t even feel her slip it out of my hand as I was brought up to my feet.</p><p></p><p>“That,” The Blade said evenly, “is not yours.” His bow slipped off his shoulder and he quickly grasped it with his left hand.</p><p></p><p>“I think I have a—” Doxx started.</p><p></p><p>“—You do not.” And The Blade held out his right hand. “Return it.”</p><p></p><p>Doxx and The Blade glared at each other. Doxx’s fingers clenched her staff tightly, her knuckles growing white from strain, while the Blade tightened his own on his own weapon. I think we all took a step back from the two, hoping that it didn’t come to blows.</p><p></p><p>The wind had just picked up slightly, when I heard a sudden rush through the air. I didn’t even turn to look, as alarmed and fascinated with the tension that was strung between the changeling and the elf. But the sound faded quickly, as a snowball struck The Blade in the side of the face. Doxx lifted a finger as if to point it out, when a second ball struck her in the face as well. Both turned and looked up the hill, where two banderhobbs stood, each one packing another pile of snow into a packed ball.</p><p></p><p>Then I heard a creaking and squeaking sound, of metal on metal. Then this strange sound came from Bookshelf’s mouth. As Bookshelf stood there, he started to shiver and then finally began to laugh. We all looked at each other for a moment, as the rest of us started to cut loose at the absurdity of what had happened. All except Doxx and The Blade.</p><p></p><p>They stood there unmoving staring into each other’s eyes, as snow clumps fell from their faces, their brows knit in concentration. Then suddenly both sputtered and joined us in laughter. Doxx proffered her staff with the token on the end, and The Blade took it back gently.</p><p></p><p>“We have enough problems with those…two?” Doxx said realizing that the banderhobb count had doubled. “We can’t become focused on the wrong thing.”</p><p></p><p>The Blade nodded in agreement, “No; we cannot be divided. And I assure you of two things; one this is personal. Two, she is never touching this again.”</p><p></p><p>I looked at The Blade with an expression that probably said, “hey now!” But the others looked at me and the mock damage to my pride and laughed harder.</p><p></p><p>“Let’s get up the hill, before we are…assaulted again,” Sage giggled in a deep baritone.</p><p></p><p>“I thought Doxx could, I don’t know, dodge those?” Bookshelf chortled.</p><p></p><p>“Yes, yes, yes. Very funny, let’s move!” Doxx said.</p><p></p><p>The Blade tucked the token beneath his jerkin, and he looked at me impassively.</p><p></p><p>“I’m sorry…about that,” I said as we turned side by side to trudge up the hill. I didn’t bother with the copper ring as any pretense of secrecy was gone. “I didn’t expect that…experience at all.”</p><p></p><p>“What <strong><em>did</em></strong> you experience?” The Blade asked quietly.</p><p></p><p>“I saw a city of stone, on a large island. Inside were souls. Elven souls.” I said looking at the Blade. I could barely see his eyebrows lift under his mask.</p><p></p><p>“You..saw Shae Mordai?”</p><p></p><p>“I guess?” I said uncertain on if it was, and why that was important. “I felt, rather than spoke to whatever I saw. But I wasn’t welcome there. Not at all.”</p><p></p><p>The Blade nodded looking ahead. Frowning he simply said, “The Undying Court.”</p><p></p><p>“What is…what is that?” I asked, never having remembered anything like that when Arnara and I spoke at length in the Misty Forest.</p><p></p><p>“The collection of the ancestors of the Elves,” The Blade said quietly. “The Aereni elves have paid homage to them for 25,000 years.”</p><p></p><p>“What does that token, have to do with them?” I asked.</p><p></p><p>The Blade pursed his lips and then sighed. “It was my grandmother's and see was a member of a group that protected the rulers of Aerenal and the Undying Court by extension. But she was betrayed and was…killed. This is all I have left from her.”</p><p></p><p>There was more there. I could see the pain on The Blades normally stoic face. But I didn’t want to cause more problems than I already had this evening. “Did you…did you see the writing on your grandmother’s token, when I fell?”</p><p></p><p>“I saw the light, but not the letters,” The elf said looking at me again. “What did it say?”</p><p></p><p>“It was a symbol that, is a challenge to the reader. To, ‘Have Faith,’” I replied. “Does that make any sense to you?”</p><p></p><p>The Blade frowned and looked at me, “Not really. I believe in myself, and that is enough." And with that, he pulled away and wrapped is cloak around him, leaving me again in the cold to shiver. I could only sigh and curse myself for handling something so sensitive to another so terribly bad. I couldn’t have predicted what had happened of course, but it made me feel inadequate all the same.</p><p></p><p>But what <strong><em>did</em></strong> happen? It was awe inspiring; nothing I had seen or felt before had the beauty to compare. I knew that from my time with the wood elves in the Misty Forest, that they held themselves aloof from, humans and others. I asked Arnara about it, and she had replied that it was avoiding the pain of losing people close to you, so frequently. It made sense, and I didn’t question it. But now I realized that there was far more to it. That the nature of the elves’ existence was a step removed from the rest of the mortal races. Or rather, two steps, if one could consider I was only a single step removed. That there was a difference of being borne from the blood of your god, as opposed the seed of an angel, or the whims of a god’s creation. I wondered if I could really understand Arnara at all.</p><p></p><p>I tossed these thoughts back and forth, as we climbed into the hills. We followed a trail the circled around one tall hillock, switching its trail back and forth. Here on the hillside, the scant few trees, were bare of snow and of life. Frozen mosses and lichen adorned branches and stone, but none looked healthy. It was rot frozen in winter for all the eye to see. The scrub was dusted in snow, and it too looked like it had the life choked away, many seasons ago. It was hush, with no sounds beyond the wind that tore through the hills in frozen gusts. The banderhobbs had scampered out of sight, and finally the trail we were following revealed our destination.</p><p></p><p>The trail opened up into a small gorge, clear of snow, inset into the hillside, with the rocky floor of sloping away toward us at the entry. At the top of the slope stood the two banderhobb, who fidgeted as they stood with their backs to the rock, flanking a crack like opening, where a sickly purple and green light flickered within. Off to the side of the entrance, was a plinth of stone the height of Sage. The plinth had writing carved into it, and as we approached, I could read warning in many languages. Most of them said, “Go Away,” or “Mind your own business.” Some were more advice in nature like, “All deals are final,” and “You better know what you are asking for.” And at least one I could see was crude humor of a sexual nature. Or I hoped so; I didn’t think dwarves could bend that way. But it was at the very top of the rock that gave me a sense of foreboding.</p><p></p><p>On top of the plinth was the miniature executioner’s raven. It looked at the Blade and hissed at him, confirming my fear; it was a familiar. I swallowed and decided that keeping Gossamer hidden away was the better choice, despite the tongue lashing he would dole out for his ‘imprisonment’ later. It looked at us and stood upright with a look of imperial disdain and began to preen its feathers, unconcerned with us or the cold.</p><p></p><p>We approached warily. I for one didn’t know how to announce ourselves to the occupant within. But I didn’t need to worry about that as it turned out. From inside the rent in the cave wall, appeared a shadowy form of a hunched figure, casting a long shadow across the floor of the gorge. Then we all heard a high pitched screech that morphed into a chuckle that echoed around the gorge. It was like finger nails scraping on slate as it took on the form of the most malevolent sound of glee that I had ever heard. After serval moments it gave way to a voice that chastised and mocked us.</p><p></p><p>“Well…finally the puppets of the three have arrived,” it chortled with malice, before increasing the rhythm of its insults, “Took you long enough to get here! Lollygagging through the countryside like your world wasn’t going to end!” It sighed and again chuckled. “Well, nothing more to be done there; all the good help was killed off long ago. So, I guess it’s you, or nothing. And have I the bargain for you…so step inside pawns; I promise not to bite…unless you <em>want</em> me to. Let us see what you can do for old Twisted Mirth, shall we?”</p><p></p><p><strong>Session Notes:</strong></p><p>First...this is very late. RL has been challenging recently, but I want to get back to the ride here.</p><p></p><p>The Blade, like the others, had a complex background story that were revealed in pieces; sometimes by the player, and sometime by the DM. As Ryan's writings indicate, there is a lot of family in the back of The Blades mind, which made him what he is today. The interactions that The Blade had with others was perhaps the best parts of the campaign.</p><p></p><p>But now we will begin to see the stage that players are really...but perhaps not all of it yet. Twisted Mirth has a tale to tell, and she of course does want something...which should give any sane cutter pause.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nthal, post: 8634843, member: 6971069"] [HEADING=1][CENTER]March of Many Darks - 5/15/2022[/CENTER][/HEADING] “You can’t be serious,” Doxx said pointing at the gesticulating banderhobb. “That’s an invitation?” “I can’t think of a reason to stand there waving a book around,” Rosa said looking at the old woman reproachfully. “Do we really need this book?” I said already knowing the answer. “I don’t see how we can avoid it,” Sage responded. “I agree,” Bookshelf said quietly. “Whatever knowledge is within its pages; it has been reviewed four times. And at least one of them is well informed enough that she wouldn’t have bothered if it were worthless.” “You think Melisandre is all that?” Doxx said giving the slender warforged a sour look. “She knew much about each of us,” Bookshelf continued. “She had reason and methods to know, and whatever her motivations, she doesn’t seem to be one to leave important knowledge unchecked and unheeded.” “If…if…if…you are going to see…see…seek out Twisted Mirth, leave me [B][I]out[/I][/B] of it!” Kalborius stammered shaking his head back and forth. “What about the oil?” Adrissa pointed out. “That’s right,” I said, and I walked over and knelt by the shivering wreck of Kalborius who looked at me confused. “Do you have any in the stores here?” “I…well…I think so?” Kalborius said confused at the change in topic. “I don’t keep track of the inventory, but I know it’s used for a lot of different things—” “—How much?” Rosa interjected, rushing next to me. “I don’t know…perhaps…well…I guess…” “How much?!” Rosa stamped her foot in anger. “Well, I think it is maybe a gold or two per flask—” “Not the PRICE you idiot!” Rosa grabbed the man by his lapels, still soaked with ooze from the belly of the banderhobb. She shook him her teeth gritted in frustration. “How much do you have!?!?” “Aaahh,” Kalborius stammered as the halfling continued to shake him. Rosa was then pried away by Sage as the he tried to speak. “Ah…maybe a tun?” Rosa looked at the everyone quizzically while Adrissa and I shrugged our shoulders. “That is about 36,000 flasks,” Bookshelf said after a moment calculating the answer. Rosa smiled, “That is more than enough, assuming we can get enough morning glys we should have enough to cure—” “—Cure?” Kalborius said warily, eying Rosa. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Doxx shaking her head vigorously and waving her hands wildly trying to keep us quiet. Unfortunately, Adrissa had her back to Doxx and spoke up first, “To cure the plague in Denning before it spreads—” “Plague!?!” Kalborius’ eyes bulged in shock as Doxx winced and cradled her head in her hands. His eyes then narrowed in realization, “But you need the oil to make…a curative?” He stood up and straightened his ooze-stained robe. “It should be kept here for safe keeping—” Rosa smiled sweetly and looked at Kalborius. “You wouldn’t happen to have any morning glys here?” The man frowned. “That blooms in the spring normally, but not here.” he said. “In the swamps near Bog-o-Narn usually. But it doesn’t keep, and there have been several Cannith alchemists that have been trying to discover a meth—.” “—Well then…we need to make it closer to where the outbreak is,” Rosa continued. “Otherwise, the curative won’t keep either.” “That…that makes sense. I can see if anyone is willing to transport it, I suppose.” Kalborius said slowly. “Leave the oil here and we should guard it. Perpetrators could just walk off with—OOF!” The Blade started, before another snowball hit him in the back of the head. He whirled around and there by the window, squatted the banderhobb. It shook the water and ice off one hand, while in the other it clutched another large snowball, which it casually passed between its claws. It’s looked at the The Blade with a toothy grin that opened wider at The Blades seething glare. It then made a low croaking sound and stepped backwards and faded from my view. “It likes you,” Doxx said bemused. “If it is foolish enough to lead us to its master,” The Blade said grimacing beneath his cowl. “I suppose we should pay this ‘Twisted Mirth’ a visit.” What I didn’t realize that he meant ‘right now,’ and not ‘after a good night’s rest in a warm inn.” Although it had little to do with The Blade’s opinion, but it was more the insistence of the banderhobb. It had little concern about our comfort, as it lumbered ahead of us enthusiastically. It noisily crushed the snow beneath its flappy feet, and it occasionally bent over to gather some snow it kicked up and threw a large ball of snow at us when we didn’t keep up. Well, ‘us’ might be generous. It really just kept throwing them at The Blade, and only when its aim went wild did it pelt anyone else. And it wasn’t like we could really keep up with it as the creature had a maddening habit of disappearing behind a frost covered tree and reappearing farther ahead. Eventually it grew bored with its icy jabs and freezing taunts, and simply waited for us to catch up with it, before leading us onwards through the icy fields in front of the foothills. Then the clouds broke open, and moonlight covered the snowy landscape, the first time in many weeks. The light was enough to foul my strange sense of perception, and I saw the frozen landscape like how everyone else would. The trees were scattered around us, and the ground was covered in frozen bushes and scrub. The sound of our boots or metal clad feet crunched through the snow as we made our way to a range of hills ahead of us, while behind the lights of Cattbron were nothing more than a dull glow over the horizon. The hills were a decent distance from the town and my legs were already aching from the march. This wasn’t my idea though. --- “What do you mean we can’t take the horses?” Doxx said with a look of incredulity on her face. “There is no way we are going to bring animals anywhere near a hag,” Rosa insisted. “Aren’t we more at risk of…being eaten?” Doxx exclaimed. Bookshelf and Sage looked at each other and just shook their metallic heads at what was obvious to them “Not if the hag really wants to talk to us,” I had said. “If she wanted to just kill us, or use us for stew, we would be dealing with something worse than banderhobbs.” Rosa nodded, “Most natural creatures stay far away from hags, and magebred horses, while not natural are smarter than—” “—Us—” Doxx muttered. Rosa glared at the old woman and kept talking, “—most people.” At which Doxx narrowed her gaze at the halfling. “So best we stable them in town—" “—and walk,” Adrissa said grimly shaking her head. ------------- And so, we plodded forward, the hills slowly growing closer. I shivered and tried to rub feeling back into my arms. The cloak I wore seemed to leak my body’s warmth away into the night, causing shivers through my limbs. On horseback this wasn’t as bad, as the steed’s body was like a furnace below you. But now nothing held back the biting cold’s caress. I winced and shut my eyes. I was tired. Beyond tired. Maybe if I stopped… “You need to keep moving.” My head snapped up and I shook some sense back into my head. The Blade was standing beside me and nudging me along, and he threw his long leather cloak across my shoulders, sharing some of his warmth. “Th—th—thanks,” I chattered. “Don’t mention it,” he said quietly. I glanced at his masked face under the cowl. There was some crusty snow still melting from a well tossed ball from our guide. I could barely see his eyes, but I could see them twitching and focusing on different things; the banderhobb, Adrissa, the occasional tree. But after a moment they focused on me again and his spoke in a hushed tone. “What was that earlier?” he asked. I huffed a moment and barely shook my head. In then reached into my pouch and wrapped the copper wire around my finger, and I brushed my thumb along the edge while I looped a strand around us. “I assume you wanted privacy,” I barely whispered. His eyes turned to glance at me, and I could feel him nod ever so slightly. “I felt something…like myself.” “What does that mean?” I heard in my head, as he replied to my missive. “It felt like that part of me that…makes me an Aasimar. I feel it when I create light or purge poisons or diseases. But there was something different about it.” I paused a moment and watched his face. He had stopped looking around and his focus on was on me alone when the inevitable question came; “How did it happen?” “Well, I am guessing it is because of something you are wearing, probably on your chest.” “Why would you say that?” he asked suspiciously.” “Because we were chest to chest when I felt it, and I don’t feel it now standing next to you.” His eyes narrowed thought, processing what I said. “You are…observant.” “And correct?” gave a small smile as the magical connection continued to keep our words private. “Yes. It is a…token from my grandmother,” his voice said in my head. “Can I, see or hold it?” I asked carefully. Something about the way he ‘spoke’ about it was evasive or perhaps just reluctant to share. He didn’t respond immediately. But I felt his head move and I glanced and saw him nodding. He shouldered his bow and reached within his tunic and pulled something out. He cupped it in his hand as if he was trying to hide it from the world, before placing it in my right hand. I could feel a surge within me as it resonated with me, sending warmth up and down my back. I then cupped it and pulled it close to my face so I could look at it closely. Wrapped in a network of fine chain, it was a shiny dark grey material that was shaped like a flattened spiral, similar to a snail shell. I turned it over in my hand and I could see nor feel any entrance or defect in its surface. I brushed my gloved thumb over the strange object, and I could feel it respond to my touch. Each brush sending a sensation of power through my hand. I bit my lip a moment as I regarded it, and I lifted the object closer to my face. Squinting at it revealed nothing new, so I decided to try something. I turned my head a little and placed the flattened side of it and pressed it into my cold cheek. The flare of warmth was a wonderful feeling, but that sensation was all too brief as I could now feel a connection. My vision was distorted as I was torn away from the hillside and raced among the clouds and beneath the stars. I was moving rapidly through the night, and I crossed over land and then a great ocean. I could see that I was rapidly approaching an island. Not a small one, but a huge one that put places like Nelanther to shame. I barely could grasp the size as I felt drawn to a city there, deep in the woods. The stone walls and causeways were old, but it wasn’t abandoned or in decay. I could see and feel points of energy moving around the streets, some faint and some bright. My senses then were pulled towards a large ziggurat in the middle of the city, and I was pulled to its edge. My awareness stopped suddenly there. I felt pulling, but I couldn’t approach the entrance to the pyramidal structure. I could see in the stone nearby carvings, each ablaze with a bright white light, but the lettering was unfamiliar. I tried to move my perspective and found that I was in the grip of something I could not directly perceive. But I felt it hold and constrain me. As I kept trying to pull away, I found my awareness unable to shift away. Then as I struggled, I saw a light approach from the ziggurat. It was almost blinding as it enveloped me, and I realized it wasn’t one light, but a swarm of them. I could feel them swirl around my mind, and I could hear a cacophony of voices in my head. Each one spoke over the other, but more than that I could feel emotions from each light. Surprise. Alarm. Concern. Curiosity. Contempt. Fury. Hate. But most of all, Love. Not for me. Not for a particular specific light. A love not just for lights around me, but for lights in the causeways. Lights across the island. Light across the world. All the lights. I struggled with the flood of emotion coursing through me, and I could feel not warmth, but heat flare through my body and up my spine. My back arched in pain as I could feel my wings appear in a blinding golden blaze. My mind was assaulted by more and more emotions and thoughts that slipped past me in my struggle to put everything into context. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I grasped the basics on what I felt. Something only described to me once, in tones of sadness and regret because it was something I could never experience. Or wasn’t supposed to be able to. Each light was a soul; I knew it. I had pulled enough people away from the veil of death that I knew the contours of them well enough. I could remember being nothing but a soul once in The Fugue as I thought I would meet my god in person. But I remembered that while my soul felt not stronger, but it had a radiant quality compared to others. I thought at the time it was the Strands and their connection to me, but now I realized that it was simply because of who I was; a daughter of a celestial. But these souls put me into my place, as my soul was a best a pale imitation of their glory. And as I hung there in their judgement I had only one explanation for their source, a legend of their creation as the offspring of not an angel. But from a god. Elves. As that revelation crossed my thoughts, I felt a wave of rejection. The journey I had just begun, played through my senses again, but in reverse and in far greater speed. Within a the briefest of moments my vision returned to where I stood, light fading from the shocked face of The Blade, and the others around me. I realized that I somehow was in the air above the snow, and I quickly fell into the snow below me, the icy cold a slap to my body, as much as the slap to my soul a moment ago. I lay there panting in a daze as I could hear echoes around me. “What in Khyber was that?” “Is she alright?” “Those wings were beautiful—” “—Nevermind that they scorched The Blade.” “Are you alright? Say something.” “I’m fine citizen—” “—Not you! HER.” “That manifestation was greater than her prior ones.” “Not now Bookshelf.” “Myrai?” I could feel my shoulder being gently shaken, and my eyes focused on Adrissa, who knelt in the snow next to me. Her face was streaming tears, but they weren’t tears of pain, but the tears of someone in throes of exultation. Like a window to the divine had opened and shut before her. I blinked a moment and turned my head to look at my open hand, where The Blades’ token was. There in bright sigils was an elven word. I snapped my hand closed and started to push myself up, when Doxx and Sage lifted me to my feet. “What was that all about?” Doxx asked me accusingly. “A blazing light in the middle of the night is only going to attract problems. “What?” I asked wearily. “Like a banderhobb?” Doxx’s face went red for a moment, “I know we are expected but still! That light show could probably be seen a league from here!” I looked at him, and I am sure that my face was a muddle of confusion and disbelief. “What?” I asked. “Darling,” Rosa said with a bemused smile. “[I]You[/I] were a blazing light, greater than…no the[I] only[/I] one we could see.” “What triggered that?” Sage asked pointedly. “Is it something repeatable?” Bookshelf quickly followed up with. I glanced at each member of the group, but I really only wanted to see what was on The Blade’s face. His head had only the barest of movement, but he was clearly shaking his head no; at least to me. “I…I…can’t explain it. But I don’t think that would happen again,” I pleaded and swallowed, hoping the others would believe me. “How?” Sage asked, as his towering form moved next tome and looked down at me, his eyes bore into me, searching for a reason to disbelieve me. I wasn’t frighted of Sage normally, but it was only now that I realized how small I was, compared the juggernaut that easily weighed over four times my own body, armor and all. He could have easily broken me into two with the barest of effort if he chose, and I doubted I could even scratch his metallic skin in defense. I nervously returned his gaze and took a deep breath to steady myself and reiterated, “I don’t think it would happen again. I can’t say why.” “Perhaps it has something to do with…this?” Doxx said. I inwardly groaned as I turned to look at her, and there hanging from her staff was The Blades’ token. I didn’t even feel her slip it out of my hand as I was brought up to my feet. “That,” The Blade said evenly, “is not yours.” His bow slipped off his shoulder and he quickly grasped it with his left hand. “I think I have a—” Doxx started. “—You do not.” And The Blade held out his right hand. “Return it.” Doxx and The Blade glared at each other. Doxx’s fingers clenched her staff tightly, her knuckles growing white from strain, while the Blade tightened his own on his own weapon. I think we all took a step back from the two, hoping that it didn’t come to blows. The wind had just picked up slightly, when I heard a sudden rush through the air. I didn’t even turn to look, as alarmed and fascinated with the tension that was strung between the changeling and the elf. But the sound faded quickly, as a snowball struck The Blade in the side of the face. Doxx lifted a finger as if to point it out, when a second ball struck her in the face as well. Both turned and looked up the hill, where two banderhobbs stood, each one packing another pile of snow into a packed ball. Then I heard a creaking and squeaking sound, of metal on metal. Then this strange sound came from Bookshelf’s mouth. As Bookshelf stood there, he started to shiver and then finally began to laugh. We all looked at each other for a moment, as the rest of us started to cut loose at the absurdity of what had happened. All except Doxx and The Blade. They stood there unmoving staring into each other’s eyes, as snow clumps fell from their faces, their brows knit in concentration. Then suddenly both sputtered and joined us in laughter. Doxx proffered her staff with the token on the end, and The Blade took it back gently. “We have enough problems with those…two?” Doxx said realizing that the banderhobb count had doubled. “We can’t become focused on the wrong thing.” The Blade nodded in agreement, “No; we cannot be divided. And I assure you of two things; one this is personal. Two, she is never touching this again.” I looked at The Blade with an expression that probably said, “hey now!” But the others looked at me and the mock damage to my pride and laughed harder. “Let’s get up the hill, before we are…assaulted again,” Sage giggled in a deep baritone. “I thought Doxx could, I don’t know, dodge those?” Bookshelf chortled. “Yes, yes, yes. Very funny, let’s move!” Doxx said. The Blade tucked the token beneath his jerkin, and he looked at me impassively. “I’m sorry…about that,” I said as we turned side by side to trudge up the hill. I didn’t bother with the copper ring as any pretense of secrecy was gone. “I didn’t expect that…experience at all.” “What [B][I]did[/I][/B] you experience?” The Blade asked quietly. “I saw a city of stone, on a large island. Inside were souls. Elven souls.” I said looking at the Blade. I could barely see his eyebrows lift under his mask. “You..saw Shae Mordai?” “I guess?” I said uncertain on if it was, and why that was important. “I felt, rather than spoke to whatever I saw. But I wasn’t welcome there. Not at all.” The Blade nodded looking ahead. Frowning he simply said, “The Undying Court.” “What is…what is that?” I asked, never having remembered anything like that when Arnara and I spoke at length in the Misty Forest. “The collection of the ancestors of the Elves,” The Blade said quietly. “The Aereni elves have paid homage to them for 25,000 years.” “What does that token, have to do with them?” I asked. The Blade pursed his lips and then sighed. “It was my grandmother's and see was a member of a group that protected the rulers of Aerenal and the Undying Court by extension. But she was betrayed and was…killed. This is all I have left from her.” There was more there. I could see the pain on The Blades normally stoic face. But I didn’t want to cause more problems than I already had this evening. “Did you…did you see the writing on your grandmother’s token, when I fell?” “I saw the light, but not the letters,” The elf said looking at me again. “What did it say?” “It was a symbol that, is a challenge to the reader. To, ‘Have Faith,’” I replied. “Does that make any sense to you?” The Blade frowned and looked at me, “Not really. I believe in myself, and that is enough." And with that, he pulled away and wrapped is cloak around him, leaving me again in the cold to shiver. I could only sigh and curse myself for handling something so sensitive to another so terribly bad. I couldn’t have predicted what had happened of course, but it made me feel inadequate all the same. But what [B][I]did[/I][/B] happen? It was awe inspiring; nothing I had seen or felt before had the beauty to compare. I knew that from my time with the wood elves in the Misty Forest, that they held themselves aloof from, humans and others. I asked Arnara about it, and she had replied that it was avoiding the pain of losing people close to you, so frequently. It made sense, and I didn’t question it. But now I realized that there was far more to it. That the nature of the elves’ existence was a step removed from the rest of the mortal races. Or rather, two steps, if one could consider I was only a single step removed. That there was a difference of being borne from the blood of your god, as opposed the seed of an angel, or the whims of a god’s creation. I wondered if I could really understand Arnara at all. I tossed these thoughts back and forth, as we climbed into the hills. We followed a trail the circled around one tall hillock, switching its trail back and forth. Here on the hillside, the scant few trees, were bare of snow and of life. Frozen mosses and lichen adorned branches and stone, but none looked healthy. It was rot frozen in winter for all the eye to see. The scrub was dusted in snow, and it too looked like it had the life choked away, many seasons ago. It was hush, with no sounds beyond the wind that tore through the hills in frozen gusts. The banderhobbs had scampered out of sight, and finally the trail we were following revealed our destination. The trail opened up into a small gorge, clear of snow, inset into the hillside, with the rocky floor of sloping away toward us at the entry. At the top of the slope stood the two banderhobb, who fidgeted as they stood with their backs to the rock, flanking a crack like opening, where a sickly purple and green light flickered within. Off to the side of the entrance, was a plinth of stone the height of Sage. The plinth had writing carved into it, and as we approached, I could read warning in many languages. Most of them said, “Go Away,” or “Mind your own business.” Some were more advice in nature like, “All deals are final,” and “You better know what you are asking for.” And at least one I could see was crude humor of a sexual nature. Or I hoped so; I didn’t think dwarves could bend that way. But it was at the very top of the rock that gave me a sense of foreboding. On top of the plinth was the miniature executioner’s raven. It looked at the Blade and hissed at him, confirming my fear; it was a familiar. I swallowed and decided that keeping Gossamer hidden away was the better choice, despite the tongue lashing he would dole out for his ‘imprisonment’ later. It looked at us and stood upright with a look of imperial disdain and began to preen its feathers, unconcerned with us or the cold. We approached warily. I for one didn’t know how to announce ourselves to the occupant within. But I didn’t need to worry about that as it turned out. From inside the rent in the cave wall, appeared a shadowy form of a hunched figure, casting a long shadow across the floor of the gorge. Then we all heard a high pitched screech that morphed into a chuckle that echoed around the gorge. It was like finger nails scraping on slate as it took on the form of the most malevolent sound of glee that I had ever heard. After serval moments it gave way to a voice that chastised and mocked us. “Well…finally the puppets of the three have arrived,” it chortled with malice, before increasing the rhythm of its insults, “Took you long enough to get here! Lollygagging through the countryside like your world wasn’t going to end!” It sighed and again chuckled. “Well, nothing more to be done there; all the good help was killed off long ago. So, I guess it’s you, or nothing. And have I the bargain for you…so step inside pawns; I promise not to bite…unless you [I]want[/I] me to. Let us see what you can do for old Twisted Mirth, shall we?” [B]Session Notes:[/B] First...this is very late. RL has been challenging recently, but I want to get back to the ride here. The Blade, like the others, had a complex background story that were revealed in pieces; sometimes by the player, and sometime by the DM. As Ryan's writings indicate, there is a lot of family in the back of The Blades mind, which made him what he is today. The interactions that The Blade had with others was perhaps the best parts of the campaign. But now we will begin to see the stage that players are really...but perhaps not all of it yet. Twisted Mirth has a tale to tell, and she of course does want something...which should give any sane cutter pause. [/QUOTE]
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