Warriors Of The Coast

[stonegod]

Ari spends his time relaxing and taking it easy for the next few days, enjoying the fruits of civilization while he can.

 

[Brogarn]

Standing in front of the door of the Daggerspell Guardians, Skarg takes in the scenery of the city around him. Why am I doing all of this, again? Why am I bothering? Guess there's just nothing better to do. With a shrug and a sigh, he starts asking around about a weaponsmith. One with quality goods for sale.

 

[drothgery]

The older cleric nods at the information, signals for the paperwork (which gets handed to him) and begins looking through things. The clangs of the swords elsewhere in the yard makes his head fly up and he immediately points to one of the men. "Tell whoever is making that ruckus to knock it off. Now!" He then goes back to looking at the papers. As one templar rushes off to the fighting elsewhere in the yard, the other five stand there silently again. They occasionally look at Khalia, but do not address her. She thinks they have taken notice of her Silver Flame and Archivists jewelry and know that she's one of them... but it hasn't inspired them to speak to her as of yet. The cleric continues reading.

"Excuse me." Khalia said. "I am Lady Khalia ir'Indari. Knights Templar, Archivisits Order. I heard the summons."

 

[DEFCON 1]

"You can speak to me even when I am in the village, so we can speak here. Tell me, why should I come up to your temple. You can explain me who you are, why you want to help me, why you want to isolate me, why I must come to the temple, how you can hurt the people around me when you can't even get out of your temple. Be an ally and act like it, or be my enemy and show me your worse, but one thing is sure, I won't be your own."

After Jango talks to the air at the top of the crevasse, he sits and waits for an answer.

None comes.

He waits longer.

Again... no answer comes.

And longer.

Nothing.

What has happened? Why does this voice not answer him directly? Was his impression correct... that this voice is nothing but an annoyance that cannot act on him in any way? Despite it's claims, there is nothing this voice can do to him or his family? Frustration begins setting in... as Jango's desire for answers about his mark is tempered by his annoyance for being taken for a fool.

After thirty minutes of contemplation, he stands up and brushes himself off... having made the decision to return home. The voice did not have an answer for his questions, and thus he has nothing for the voice. As Jango turns his head to address Griot...

...there is a sudden burning sensation on his mark.

It burns...

AND BURNS...

Jango suddenly drops to his knees and screams in agony as his dragonmark feels as though it's being pressed with a flaming iron. Griot squawks maddeningly and flaps up off of the elf's shoulder, and the boy falls to the ground. He tries desperately to "put out" the flaming sensation, but nothing he does can stop the excrutiating pain. And within seconds... he falls into the darkness of unconsciousness.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Why am I doing all of this, again? Why am I bothering? Guess there's just nothing better to do.

This was a good question. Why was he doing this? He didn't need to come to Newthrone... didn't need to take any training... didn't need to do anything. He could just as easily stayed back in Seawell and went back to work. Or took a vacation and spent two weeks staring out into the sea. Why do anything? What was the point? Was there really just nothing better to do?

Skarghash thought about this as he returned to the main boulevard and started looking for a reputable blacksmith. He knew he probably couldn't afford any high-quality Cannith merchandise necessarily... but he also didn't really know what he wanted to buy. If anything.

He is pointed in the direction of a dwarven blacksmith a few blocks away and he wanders over to it. When he arrives, he sees that it is quite serviceable and has quite a number of quality items to purchase if he so chose. But that brought him back to the question that was nagging since he left the Guardian's headquarters... what is he doing? What is his purpose? What does he want?

The halfork realizes that if he can't even figure out why he's doing what he's doing... that he's just sleepwalking through life... then there's no reason to do anything. The world is completely open to him. No one is making him do anything. There is no path laid out before him that he must take. He has a free choice.

And a choice should be made. Otherwise... why bother living at all?

 

[DEFCON 1]

"Excuse me. I am Lady Khalia ir'Indari. Knights Templar, Archivisits Order. I heard the summons."

The cleric's head snaps up from his paperwork and he glares at the archivist for a second, then returns his head to the parchment that lists the Silver Flamers that have been called to service. She sees his eyes scan the sheet, then find was she assumes to be her name. He looks back up at her and shoves the paperwork back to the templar that handed it to her. "About time you finally arrived, Miss ir'Indari. I sent notice to your Mother Tharavar several days ago. I don't like being held up." He stops for a second and raises his ear to check to see if the swordplay had stopped, which to his satisfaction, it has. He nods once, then returns his attention to the young woman. "I am Elder Samuel Nevillom, of Wyrmwatch. I am leading this crusade to rid our world of the evil that is the lycanthrope menace that once again threatens our lands. You will join us, Miss ir'Indari... as part of my main force. We will leave tomorrow. Be here at seven, prepared for battle."

His eyes leave Khalia and begin looking past her, as though searching for something or someone else. "Tell me, Miss ir'Indari... where IS Mother Tharavar? You both came here together, I presume?"

 

[DEFCON 1]

Ari spends the evening relaxing, eating and drinking his fill.

Unless he chooses to do something else in addition... he spends the next day doing the same, until he needs to go back to the Cannith forge to pick up his purchases.

 

[drothgery]

"I am Elder Samuel Nevillom, of Wyrmwatch. I am leading this crusade to rid our world of the evil that is the lycanthrope menace that once again threatens our lands. You will join us, Miss ir'Indari... as part of my main force. We will leave tomorrow. Be here at seven, prepared for battle."

"I'd like to see the reports that caused you to launch this expedition, and speak to any eyewitnesses you have. The Archivists' order has expertise in these matters. Do you have those here? If not, who should I speak to?" She asked.

His eyes leave Khalia and begin looking past her, as though searching for something or someone else. "Tell me, Miss ir'Indari... where IS Mother Tharavar? You both came here together, I presume?"

"She claims her age would prevent her from being an asset to this mission. I assured her that given the apparent scale of operations you were planning, it would hardly be necessary -- or even useful -- for everyone involved to be skilled front-line combatants; when scores of Templars are involved, the Flame requires administrators every bit as much as it requires paladins.

"Though of course, as an Archivist, I am a tactical advisor and spellcaster. Who will be leading the knights in my company? I will also want to speak with her, especially if she has not worked with one of my order before -- we are not a large order, after all." She said. It might be a bit presumptuous to assume she had been assigned a command, but if the Elder was not a fool -- and while he might be stubborn, and committed to some obsolete points of doctrine, he was hardly that -- then he knew what kind of an asset an ir'Indari Archivist was. If he intended to make use of her, he would give her a command; if he did not intend to make use of her, then this was a fool's errand.

 

[Brogarn]

Unused to pondering anything deeper than what he wanted for supper, Skargash finds himself overwhelmed. He takes one look at the weapons around him, sighs, then tries to find an inn to relax in. Hot food, hot bath, shave and a bed. That's what I need. The mysteries of life are pissing me off.

Once again asking the local population for directions, Skarg tries to find a high quality inn. It's a simple first step. He has a good amount of money; may as well spend a bit of it on some luxury. See how he likes it. If he likes anything at all. He's not real certain...

 

[DEFCON 1]

Skarghash asks around for a quality inn, and he is given several places. The one that is the most promising is a Ghallandra establishment called the Seven Sabres Inn further west and to the south. He wanders the streets down to it and arrives just as the sun is about to set. Much to his surprise, he looks up to a second-floor patio on one end of the inn and tavern to see the monster hunter Ari Osten sitting out in one of the large chairs relaxing with a drink.

The halfork is looking up at him when Ari notices Skarghash below and raises his glass in a toast. This might be just the place Skarg is looking for.