Merely Offering Greetings

The arrival of dusk marks a beginning of the end to some of the day's heat, though such has not yet received the notification. The traffic along the road has lessened, at the least. This means that Verna can enjoy both relative peace and relative comfort out upon her portico. Unsurprisingly, a book is open near at hand, though her attention is more upon the Redridge rising above or the section of still-blushed sky to the north. Aside from a nearby mana-lamp, the canary yellow of her sundress also offers some stark brightness to the dimming environment.

The sound of armor is _never_ quiet, and someone is making zero attempt to hide it. Out of the dimming sky to the southwest, a familiar voice accompanies the armor, a lighter male tone. "This is news I would have quickly, and I would know whether the Mourner received mine," Seldan is explaining as he strides up the mountain road, in full panoply of arms and armor, making no attempt to hide anything. "The safehouses take precedence, as does the cult, and yet would I aid those who seek these answers."

At Seldan's side is a familiar companion of his. A tall, blue-scaled sith-makar in white vestments over armor. The armor is somewhat new, but he wears it with an ease and comfort that bespeaks the fact that he has worn it quite a lot. Not that the fine armor shows much if any wear and tear. He stands tall and firm at Seldan's side, his expression as grim as it can be. Which on sith features is saying something.

In truth, it is a remarkable change in Zeke, who in only a short while ago had been a mere shadow of a sith-makar. Who even in more recent times has been more subtle a presence even amongst friends. Now to see him standing proudly is to see a sith-makar in his prime in spite of his age. "If there issss newsss of an enemy it isss wissse to have it the sssooner rather than later." He replies to Seldan's words, his eyes peering ahead to Verna. "There Verna isss."

An unnecessary addition really, but he adds to it a lifted hand of the flesh-and-blood variety and a polite nod as they draw closer. He moves at a steady ground-eating pace which proves if nothing else that he is somewhat anxious to hear what Verna has to say.

Verna turns at the sounds of approach even before the voices reach her. The latter shifts the nature of her interest, and her book is closed as she rises to greet the approaching pair. "Indeed, I did receive your message, and I am grateful for it. It shall aid and further our efforts in that matter." She gestures invitingly to the chairs. "Welcome. I regret that I could not invite you under more ... casual circumstances."

The call from the small house on the hill catches Seldan by surprise, but he blinks and turns his steps, which are also of a ground-eating urgency, approaching to the bottom of the stairs. "I was unaware that you lived here, Mourner. Her light upon your path, Mourner. It is good to see you well, and better still that my word was received." Polite greetings must be observed, but it is clear that Seldan, too, is all business. "Zeke and I came as soon as we received your word." A clear and unequivocal invitation to talk.

Zeke does not take a profferred seat, choosing to remain standing. He does however offer a very low nod to Verna. "We are glad to have found you." He offers, glancing toward the house on the hill. "Thisss one doesss not rememeber a ressidence here..."

Verna now offers them both something perhaps as previously unseen or unknown as the residence: a warm, pleased smile. "We built this home, our home, together, in all interpretations of the phrase. We are well, thank you." The expression lingers as further words on that topic are nearly forthcoming, though her countenance gradually firms back to neutral. The visit is not casual nor social, alas.

"Yet that is not the purpose of your arrival." A breath is taken in then exhaled. "In pursuit of the matter of... art, several of us visited the realm of Dreams directly. The realm, itself, reacted rather aggressively to our own thoughts and memories, both to detriment and to our aid. Numerous foes of the past were made manifest." Now her expression turns to a scowl. "One among them did not dissipate as the others. I do not know if he was somehow called, or was truly made tangible and persistent from my memories..."

A pause before she notes, "My call was to warn you of the vampire, Kol."

The name is enough to send ice water rushing through Seldan's veins, as few others, and he stiffens and straightens, remaining at a stand against one of the posts supporting the portico. "Kol Demontry - is made manifest in the Dream Realm?" His eyes have widened just a little, and a suddenly grim focus replaces mere purposefulness. "Know you if he be trapped there?"

Verna shakes her head, expression darkening further. "I have no reason to believe that he is trapped there, no. He vanished with what I presume is one of the lycanthrope leaders, likely a priest of the Red Maw. Kol returned moments later before departing once more." She meets Seldan's grim visage with her own. "He should not exist at all, much less once again. You are as familiar with him as I, perhaps moreso, and know the danger he represents."

The name is recognizable to Zeke as well. If he wasn't stone serious before, he was then. Thinking about the devastation that had come the last time that the vampire had been present. It hadn't all been Kol, but enough of it had been. Enough of it had been a trial and a victory to defeat him. "How?" That is the pertinent question after all. "How hassss he returned?"

GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/the planes: (13)+12: 25

"That can I not say for certain," Seldan replies hesitantly, and with a look at Verna that invites her to explain. "This much can I say with certainty - the statues that hold the Hound are the stuff of the dream realm, and attuning one strengthens one's tie to the Dream Realm. My own dreams were - strange - after that," he murmurs, "though I had not wished to frighten anyone."

A momentary pause follows, as one gathering is thoughts. "The Realm of Dreams is a between place. Those with the power to change it, to bend it to their will - it is not impossible to draw a dreamer from reality into it. And yet do I have little experience with it. The road that She has laid before me is not the path of dreams, but of magic." This last is said curiously.

Zeke turns his green gaze on Seldan, blinking in surprise at the man. "Having the thing changed your dreamsss?" His voice is gently curious. "You did not mention sssuch Sseldan." There's concern there, worry that if there had been something more serious that he would not have known. "Thisss one isss curiousss, but the greater conscern issss thisss vampire."

"No. It was not an ill effect, kin. Say rather that that night - they became clearer and more vivid, and She spoke to me." Seldan's eyes lower in thoughtful reverence. "She bids me focus on the path set before us. Indeed do I think Her wisdom greater than mine in this, for readily would I have set myself to hunting this down, and lost sight of _him_. That one needs our hand, for none other will serve. We will need Caeldra and Menesil's aid for this."

His eyes raise again. "The vampire, and Eclavdran's cult. It is in my mind that hunting down Mistress Aya's demon double and slaying it will serve them naught, do they not also remove the cult that summons it. Such as they do not invade the mortal realms merely because they will it. They need aid, and that aid must be removed."

"Aye." Zeke nods. "Ssso much to be done."

The sith shakes his head and considers the problem before them. "Though if he wasss found in the realm of dreamsss, there may be no way of knowing where he isss now. Unlesss he sssaid sssome-thing that might be of ussse to usss?" He looks over at Verna with some hope.

At that, Seldan, too, looks over at Verna hopefully. "Zeke is right. It would be well to know where he is now, if indeed it can escape the Dream Realm. That knowledge bids me change my evensong meditations, as well." He falls silent, then, and waits for Verna to answer, if she will.

Verna adds wrinkling brow to her frown as she considers questions and comments. First, the easiest, is to Zeke. "Yes, the totems bring one closer to dreams. Yes, I bore one with me. Perhaps that is why it reacted more strongly than it might have otherwise." More difficult is recollection of fine details. "The child of The Red Maw was fleeing, with the totem I had brought." This revelation does not ease her expression in the slightest.

"Kol transported with him, returned with the totem... or perhaps -a- totem. He spoke of the lycanthrope conjuring other totems to him, which is wholly possible if they possess others. The vampire then implied that the lycanthrope was no more, claimed I had summoned him... He spoke of returning to his mistress and vanished."

"Troubling indeed." Zeke says thoughtfully, his expression troubled. "We can not asssssume that death in the dream ended the lycanthrope. Yet... If Kol returned to hissss missstresss... perhapsss hisss threat isss at an end?" He holds up his flesh and blood claw for a moment to forestall any immediate objections to this line of thought. "Sssalina hasss not ssshown any sssignss of returning to her evil waysss ssince her waking from her dream. Thisss could either be the birth of that threat, or it could be a chanssce to reach out."

Seldan's eyes lower, and he lapses into a thoughtful silence, considering the options as the other two speak. "Once before did we seek to reach out to him," he says finally, "as a much younger man." He gives no detail on that, instead continuing to speak slowly and thoughtfully. "There is mercy in the Light, and yet -" He sounds troubled.

"I encountered him, in another time," Verna notes, more quietly, "as a child." Her scowl does not depart, though it is not so harsh as it was. "Should he not be a threat, I would be pleased, yet we cannot presume as much." Rather than follow that line of thought further, she nods to Zeke. "You are correct; we should not trust that the lycanthrope priest, pack leader, whatever his position, is no longer a threat, either."

Then, abruptly, her expression twists into ... smirk? Not quite mirth, or not wholly so, as there is still an edge of concern. "At this juncture, all would be wise to consider myself a threat, as well. My recent endeavors and efforts have borne markedly dubious results."

Zeke shakes his head. "You misssundersstand. I do not ssseek to reach out to the vampire, but to hisss misstresss - asssuming that it remains Ssalina." Saying her name makes him shudder in spite of himself and he looks away, his shoulders slightly hunched. "For though thisss one iss loathe to admit it, ssshe may know sssome-thing of him that we know not. Sssome way that he would have of returning that we mussst undo to undo him."

He takes a breath and looks at Verna. "You are not a threat Verna, unlesss you have turned to evil? Failure isss a part of thiss mortal life, and the godssss plasce trialsss before usss that we would never expect."

Seldan looks up and over at Zeke at the mention of Salina, now fixing the sith-makar with that troubled expression. "A venture to Siavonere, then. I would not ask such a journey of you." The troubled expression gradually melts into that steady, calming gaze. “I shall also undertake to understand how something manifested in the Dream Realm might be undone."

He turns then to Verna. "Fear not. None live that have not erred, or faltered. Many a time have I done both. That you warned me is much, and would that others have done so."

Verna ahs softly at Zeke's correction and nods in acknowledgement. "I know little of his mistress, beyond the destruction attributed to her or in her name. If she may know more, then it might be worthwhile to inquire. I intend, with others' aid, to seek similar from the gods that forged the chains. Each may be as different as its maker, who would, of course, know the most of their own creation. Unfortunately," she exhales a sigh, "Twilight abstained, yet Darkness participated. Thus some inquiries may be unpleasant, difficult, and/or impossible."

To Seldan, Verna adds, "If I am to err, which is perhaps unavoidable, I would prefer such not occur in bulk nor in rapid succession."

Zeke nods low to Seldan, his eyes guarded. "Thisss isss wisssdom kin. For though sshe isss but a child thisss one can not promissse what thisss one would do if thisss one sssaw her. Inssstinct..." He trails off and his expression is a troubled one as well. It is best to never find out what instinct might lead him to. He made it from the clutches of the woman she dreamt herself as - whole, and it would not do to allow her to be the undoing of him in the now.

He considers Verna's statement about the totems and shakes his head sorrowfully. "Thissss one knowss little about thessse chainsss, but if thisss one can be of aid asss a ssservant of the Dragonfather, pleassse let thisss one know."

"Many a thing would I prefer, and yet few of those are to be," Seldan points out, with the smallest of self-deprecating smiles. ""I must accept that which is given to me." He favors Zeke with a long gaze intended to be steadying, warm, and compassionate. "Never would I ask such of you, kin. I know of a few willing to undertake such a journey."

He turns, then, back to Verna. "Perhaps there is an easier way, for does not like call to like? It may be possible to locate, or scry upon, those which you possess not, do you use that which you possess as a focus. I am willing to undertake such magic, if need be."

"I would welcome the Dragonfather's aid, or that of his servant," Verna acknowledges his offering, "if it does not hinder nor compete with your current tasks. In theory, servants of any or all of the gods would be most helpful." She turns back to Seldan at his proposal. "That is a strong possibility, though not without risk. Several, perhaps all, of those not possessed by allies are held by the those of The Red Maw. They could detect such and attempt..." She has witnessed firsthand how awkward that can be.

"Yet, it may be worth the risk to locate any unknown or unclaimed. If you wish to do so, I will not discourage you, though it may threaten your other duties. I can also attempt the same. The lycanthropes already hunt me," she rolls her shoulders.

Zeke shifts his tail back and forth gently, his gaze softening. "This one issss glad to be of assissstance Verna. It isss wissse to be wary, but we mussst make what effortsss we can. Thisss one will do what thisss one can." He nods low to her before turning his attention back to Seldan.

"From within a spell of sanctum, within the city walls, I would deem such an effort safer than bargaining with the servants of the Dark, for it is in my mind that such aid will not come for free. Still is your caution well-taken," Seldan inclines his head to Verna. "You are quite correct, especially if Kol has been returned, that it may be best for me to permit you to do as you will."

The trio are sitting on the portico of Verna's residence among the mountain stones, off the path, Seldan in full panoply of arms and armor.

Mikilos has grown used to walking again, since teleportation and the conjuration of mounts are curtailed. Flying is still an option, but there's only so many spells to go around, and today that means walking. Then again, it also mean spying a gathering of adventurers off the side of the road. An event worth stopping for, if only to chat. "Greetings and salutations. How fare all of you this day?"

The stone cottage rests on the downslope side of the mountain road, its foundation (and the remainder of its structure) formed of stone jutting from the near-sheer face of the Redridge. The portico is upon the road escarpment proper, beginning only a few strides from the road, itself. "You make a wise and valid point," Verna admits to Seldan. "I was not wholly keen on the notion of that discourse..." As Mikilos nears and calls out, her attention turns to him, offering a lifted hand and "Greetings." With her layers of gray robes and cloak replaced with a bright canary sundress, the Mourner appears far less so.

The salutation from up the street draws Zeke's attention as it does everyone's. The sith-makar falls silent as he realizes whom is approaching. His tail gives an odd little flip and his eyes darken at the approach of the mage. It's clear even to those not wholly familiar with sith-makar features that Zeke is displeased about something. Enough so that he does not offer his customary nod of greeting. Nor any words that usually follow such.

Seldan, too, turns at the call, and straightens, his entire demeanor taking on the cast of an alabaster pillar. He inclines his head politely to the mage, though. "Mithralla," he greets, coolly and evenly.

Mikilos is not the most observant or situationally aware, but does catch at least a little of the tonal shift. And mostly ignores it. "Frightfully humid today, but at least the glare isn't too bad. Could do with a bit of a breeze though."

"It is not so unpleasant as it could be," Verna offers, "if not as pleasant as it might, either." Despite the haze and humidity, she gets the impression that the local temperature has lowered somewhat. "Would you care for a refreshment? What brings you to our home?"

The shift of subject to the weather of all things causes Zeke to snort lightly. He turns his gaze on Verna and offers her a polite nod. "Thissss one hasss more important thingsss to do than sspeak of the weather. Dutiesss that thisss one would no shirk. When you are ready for thisss one to aid you, pleassse call upon thisss one in the temple of the Dragonfather. For that isss a plasce where thisss one can be found mossst frequently."

Mikilos smiles to Verna, shaking his head. "Thank you, no. Was researching at the library, happening to spy you all gathered on my way back, thought I would say hello."

Verna dips in a deep nod to Zeke. "I shall do so. My thanks for your aid, and peace upon your nest, Sunguard." To Mikilos, she explains, "Merely others offering greetings on their way, as well. A way it seems they must continue on towards." She pauses as sweet scents of baking (or scent of baking sweets?) waft out from the cottage.

"As well, it seems I am imminently needed within to assist with food preparation." A nod to all before she explains, expression wholly her neutral norm, "Quality control is a most critical aspect of the process. If you would excuse me."

"I must concur with Zeke," Seldan agrees, inclining his head to both Verna and Mikilos. "Indeed, your news is dire, and yet am I glad to have it. I must see to my evening meditations, that I am prepared to deal with Kol should he show himself. Her light upon your path," he offers to all, accompanied by a bow to Verna.

He then turns to follow Zeke down the hill in the direction of the temples.

-End