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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1354823" data-attributes="member: 5808">Nope.  Sorry.  <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=";)" /> Part the Twenty-NinthIn which: the party meets an old… acquaintance, and makes a new one.Reyu turns her attention to the glowering young wizard.  “Are you injured?”  she asks—with genuine concern.“I’m fine,” Amelia spits back.“What troubles you?” the elf asks, puzzled.“Oh, nothing.  I’m sure now that you’ve given them a good chasing off, they won’t bother us anymore.”One of her classmates breaks in.  “We’re very grateful, really.”  He turns to the others.  “Come on, we should be getting back.”The party walks escort for the students back to the academy grounds.In daylight, the devastation is even starker than it was the night before.The formerly green main quad has been churned to a field of soot-covered, bloody mud.  Students work in small groups, sifting through the rubble, looking for bodies of their fallen classmates.Even in the open air, the smell of smoke, beginning to tinge with mildew, hangs over the area.The one encouraging sign is that the students are not alone.  Every temple in the city, if not every sect of every temple, has sent representatives of the faithful to help with the cleanup.  Lira, who has been looking for someone from the Questors who might know more about the shadow creatures spots a woman she knows. “Rosemary!” she calls.“Ah, Lira, well met,” the woman replies as she makes her way over.  Rosemary is a bit closer to what one might expect to find among a sect devoted to taking up Ehkt’s challenges.  Namely, she is taller than an elf and doesn’t break a sweat lifting a full water-pitcher.  “Have you come to take on this challenge?”Lira gives a rueful smile.  “Actually, I took it on last night.”Rosemary listens closely as Lira describes the battle the previous night, especially the shadow beasts.“Are you sure it wasn’t a bear?  You know, a big black bear or something?”  Lira shakes her head.  “I’m sure.”Behind her, Thatch mutters, “Besides, they weren’t that big.”Lira ignores him.  “Well,” Rosemary considers, “they don’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard of, but that doesn’t mean no one knows of them.”  Rosemary scans the area, finally signaling to a woman on the far side of the quad.  “This is Moira, she’s a Water-Walker.”Lira and Moira turn and greet each other.Thatch swallows quietly.  Okay, he’ll admit it.  He’s noticed that Lira is… cute, in a so-small-she’s-about-to-break kind of way.  But really, not something he spends a lot of time thinking about.  At all.  And he never really thought she and Reyu looked much alike.  Reyu is an elf, and that makes a difference.Lira and Moira might actually pass for sisters.  Red-haired, pretty, blue-eyed sisters (except that Lira has brown eyes… whatever).  Thatch feels Dennis’ elbow in his ribs and quickly finds something fascinating on the toe of his left boot.  He swallows again.Reyu glances over and shrugs.  All humans look pretty similar to her.Lira looks up at the other woman.  She looks up at most people, and Moira does have a good seven inches on her, although her vantage gives her a perfect view of the holy symbol of Alirria hanging around the other woman’s neck.  Lira also notes the design clearly denotes the other woman’s affiliation with the Water Walkers, even if Rosemary had not already said as much.  She begins to ask Moira if she has ever seen or heard of a creature like the shadow-beasts from the night before when Moira cuts her off.“You were here last night?”“Umm… Yeah.  We were the ones who discovered there was going to be an attack on the Academy.”Moira’s eyes light up. “Really.  What happened?”Reyu looks at her quizzically.  “What… have you heard happened?”“Well, some folks over at the Thirsty Traveler this morning were suggesting that the mages somehow brought it on themselves… you know… like they lost control of their own unnatural powers.  Someone else told me that King Orrin ordered the Watch to attack, to drive the wizards from the city… But my favorite rumor is that the gods caused the moon to fall out of the sky as a sign of their disapproval of arcane magic.   Reyu blinks.  “One hopes that will be… dispelled… when the moon rises tonight.”“You’d think that one would have lost credibility when the moon set as normal last night, but it’s still a great story.”  Moira grins.  “The most common rumor is that it was a bunch of religious fanatics, although opinions are split as to whether they’re organized from within the temples or without.”Anvil nods.  “Indeed.”The party gives Moira their version of events and she files it away with the others as she considers the description of the shadow creatures.“I don’t know, but… there’s something familiar.  Kind of like someone took bits and pieces of a half dozen different fairy tales and wrapped them all up together into one.”  Moira runs a hand through her hair thoughtfully.  “We could go back to my way-post.  The head of my order has traveled a lot more than I have, maybe she’s heard of the strange creatures you encountered.”Having no better plan, the party agrees and accompanies Moira back to her waypost.“Do you travel a lot?” Lira ask her as they walk.“As much as I can.  I’ve only been in the order a few years, but I’ve covered the Confederacy pretty well.”“Ever been to Dar Henna?”“Once, but not lately.”“How about Dar Aego?” Thatch asks with a derisive snort.Moira’s eyes light up.  “Oh yes, I’ve been there several times.  The architecture is stunning, just absolutely incredible!  Have you ever seen the gladiatorial arena?”Thatch scratches behind one ear.  “No, we ah… missed that.”“If you’re ever back there, you should make a stop,” Moira advises the young fighter.“Umm…  Yeah.  Sure.”Anvil walks a little faster.</blockquote>

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