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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 3588560" data-attributes="member: 7006">Cerril Maise, Aerndel Barrne, and the others of the scouting party all return with Jakk, Rogan, and Skarghash and the other Guardians to the Daggerspell camp.  There they spend Wednesday getting to know one another... and for the Flamists... getting to know what it is the Guardians are doing out here.Zendarrill Loren... the Valendar trainer and outdoorsman... has been travelling all across southeastern Khorvaire for decades it seems.  Starting his questing in the midst of the Last War... he's moved from place to place... tomb to tomb... ruin to ruin... gathering information and data.  What this data was for, he's never really said... but the Daggerspell Mages make it clear what that data is... dragonmarks.It comes as quite a surprise when the eight Daggerspell Mages and the six Daggerspell Shapers all pull back various bits of clothing or armor and show off what they have underneath...All of them have the bluish patterns on their bodies known as dragonmarks.  Some True... some not.  But all of them have them.  And as Rogan sits there hearing the stories being told, he finally realizes why he's always stayed within Newthrone as a member of the Daggerspell Guardians and not gone out with Lorren on his quests all these years.  It wasn't because he prefered the city.  It wasn't that it was his own personal choice.  It was because he wasn't Marked.  He wasn't invited.***Around mid-day, the Valenar elf returns to the camp, followed by the hexblade Ari Osten.  The look on Osten's face tells everyone sitting around that something is weighing upon his mind.  The fourteen Mages and Shapers glancing knowingly at each other... they've seen that look before amongst themselves... but the other Guardians and the Flamists are unaware just what it is that has Osten looking a bit taken aback.  Ari says nothing... and now that Lorren has returned the conversation moves into what actions will be required when the crusade arrives the next day.Obviously... the Daggerspell Shapers can't go out in their wildshape forms because that would just feed the fire.  So instead, other ideas are bandied about.  How best to diffuse the situation?  Calm the raging tide of Elder Nevillom?  Because with the thirty-plus Guardians here, the dozen Templars of the scouting party, and the fifty or more Crusaders on their way... this whole area is going to become real crowded, real soon.And throughout the rest of Wednesday and into Thursday morning... the talk and the planning continues.***Thursday morning, Aern is asleep, lying on the floor of one of the treehouses that were erected above the camp.  The talks were long... with everyone having their say.  But Aern knew he'd have perhaps the biggest impact, as he'd have 25 words with which to convince Elder Nevillom that there was no lycanthropic threat when the Elder contacted him in the morning.  The changeling thought long and hard at what he would say.  And when the familiar *ping* occurs Thursday morning at dawn... his words are carefully planned."No lycanthrope threat.  Scouts have encountered druids and made good contact.  Waiting for you at their camp.  Zendarrill Lorren leads them.  Repeat - no lycanthrope threat." ***Elder Nevillom goes purple when he receives the message Thursday morning.  This was NOT what he was supposed to hear!  They weren't supposed to make contact!  They were supposed to just learn and REPORT!  No lycanthrope threat?!?  How would they know?!?  Cerril Maise knows NOTHING!!!  THEY'VE BEEN DUPED!  ZENDARRILL LORREN LEADS THEM?!?  BY ALL THAT IS HOLY WITH THE FLAME, THAT PROVES IT!!!Unbeknownst to most casual observers... Samuel Nevillom had met Zendarrill Lorren before.  Several times in fact. And suffice it to say... the meetings did not go well.  Nevillom knew that Lorren was no mere elf.  He could sense it with all his being.  Something always gnawed away at hm whenever the Valenar passed through Wyrmwatch on his journeys, and to say there was no love lost between them would be an understatement.  Something lurked beneath the elf's facade, and the facades of those that travelled with him.  Nevillom just never knew what.Now he knows.  Or at least... knows enough to bring him to justice.  The Voice has spoken to him.  His Crusade is just.  Lycanthrope or not... Zendarrill Lorren will be brought before the Flame and Judged.  Elder Nevillom has sworn it.***And it is for that reason that when he meets with the other leadership of the army... the dwarf, the elf sorcerer, the young female archivist, the three squad leaders... he tells them he's had no contact with the scouts.  Because the scouts have been compromised.  He can no longer count on them.  And he needs to convince those members of the Church with him now of what they need to do.And with his resolve as solid as ever... Elder Samuel Nevillom leads his crusade northeast... and to their destiny.</blockquote>

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