Mirrors

Tenebrae - Sunday, January 20, 2013, 8:59 PM

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-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* A10: Temple District *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The air of solemn, heavy divinity in the area is often broken by laughter. The dual presence of the deities Althea and Daeus, man and wife, stand towards the center, with their children and their children's temples positioned around them. The presence of the divine is felt not only by their temples, but also by the actions of their worshippers. The great plaza is as a social center, paved in brilliant, white flagestones and covered in benches and sitting areas. Priests, acolytes, and servicefolk of all stripes roam the plaza, going from one task to the other.

At the front of the temples of Daeus and Althea, at the Plaza's centermost point, rests a great fountain, the cheerful waters reflecting the Sun during the day, and the Moon at night. The fountain is strategically centered, and is oft a place for wisdom and lesson-giving. It is not uncommon for a priest of some stripe or the other to stand there, surrounded by the curious and faithful, delivering messages of hope or contemplation. At other times, it and the plaza become a landscape of celebration of the holy holidays.

Few vendors are seen in the plaza--the nearby temples provide most food or services. Towards the west, the great Bridge stretches across the river, and towards the east, the Redridge mountains. The plaza rests in the midst of it all, the temples massive and grand on the Alexandrian scale.

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Zalara          Red Haired Human Female with Goggles                  12m  6h
Selia           A sleek halfling lass, quick and nimble.              0s   3m

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Oates has arrived.

Flickers of light flash across the Temple Plaza, bright pools of warm yellow traceing random arcs over the cobblestones. A short look around finds a halfling seated upon the steps of Eluna, a bullseye lantern beside her, and a collection of mirrors in her lap. A critical testing of each mirror in turn shines the light across the yard. Odd to some, but in Alexandros, not really remarkable.

Zalara comes walking in from the north and she blinks as she sees something going on. She hmms as she moves over towards the halfling with the bullseye lantern, "Hello there, what are you doing?"

An Acanian walking by pauses as he notices the flickering patterns of the light. He walks over to some shelter near where the halfling is at work and, giving a nod to Zalara, observes the experiment in progress.

Selia hrmms, and looks up, blinking a moment. "Oh, just testing me mirrors. Stupid things is too easy to crack. Why, what you up to?"

Zalara hmms, "I just got back into the city, had to help free a sanctuary. Some orges and gnolls had taken over part of the mountain that it is on."

"Same here. Rather interesting trips, that," adds Oates, still watching the testing of the mirrors. Hey, you never know when some odd thing you observe will come in handy with something some day.

Selia hrmms. "What, gnolls and orges don't have their own sanctuary? Poor blokes." Testing one final mirror, the halfling begins to carefully wrap each in cloth. Bad luck to let them break now.

Zalara shrugs, "The dragon that we met helped out." She hmms, "Do you need help wrapping it up?"

Oates just looks out at the falling snow, contemplating what to say.

Selia grins, and shakes her head. "Nah, I got it. Thanks. What sorta dragon you meet? Types I met ain't been the friendly sort."

Zalara hmms, "Well I think it was a silver dragon as her hair was silver and it lived in the mountains."

"She seemed to like the fact that we helped out an injured wolf that the group happened to come across," observes Oates.

Zalara nods, "Yah and that hunter wanted to shoot them." She rolls her eyes a little bit.

Selia twitches a moment. "Now, was this a dragon looking dragon, or some funny looking lass said they was a dragon?"

"Um, more along the lines of odd-looking lass who was present when we woke up in a cave that was further up the mountain than the one we spent the night in, who we have a hunch was a dragon," shrugs Oates. "If she wasn't a dragon, she certainly had powers of her own."

Zalara hmms, "Well she never really said she was a dragon and we didn't see her in her full dragony form, but I think she was a silver dragon. They are known to be nice." She nods in agreement with Oates, 'Yah going to sleep in one cave and waking up in another was a shock."

Selia hrmms.... "So... some chicka with weird hair does things in your sleep, and ya just assume she's good and draconic? Gotta get me some more of that silver hair dye."

Another shrug from Oates. "She helped us out with some good info; beyond that, it doesn't really matter if she's a dragon or not."

Zalara nods, "I think she's a dragon. Women don't just live up in the mountains and she took care of a whole patrol of gnolls by herself."

Selia shrugs. "Just asking if you're sure about that? Maybe gave ya good advice, maybe tricked ya into doing her dirty deeds for her. Been a lot of that going around lately."

"Well, if it's the second, then her dirty deeds happened to align with what the druids and rangers needed help with," notes Oates. "She's not the one who hired us, and those that did seemed to be about as surprised as we were when she showed up."

Zalara nods, "Besides silver dragons are known for being good and helpful and I don't think the gnolls and ogres were up there so they could make a happy home."

Selia hrmms. "That does make for a pretty good case for her being one of the good guys. Ain't so sure about the others being bad guys. Gnolls and orges want happy homes, just like everyone else. Course, what they consider a happy home might be a little diffrent."

Oates nods. "True, and when their idea of a happy home involves attacking druids and their supply caravans, well... that's when the Adventurer's Guild gets involved, and things get sorted out from there."

Zalara frowns, "Well they can find their happy homes away from other people and not attack them. This group couldn't so they got what's coming to them."

Selia nods thoughtfully. "Think supply caravans is really more a work enviroment sorta thing, not a happy home. But I didn't meet the blokes, so can't say for sure."

Oates nods in understanding of Selia, then watches the snow fall some more.

Zalara nods, "I mean you could be right she could have not been a dragon, but I think she was one, there was just something dragony about her."

Selia shrugs. "Mighta been a sorcerous. Lota them gots dragon ancestory. Or something like that. Tend ta get exasive when question the details."

"Not that it really matter much at this point," Oates comments. "If we happen to encounter her again, it might be more relevant, but at this point, it's just idle wonderings and the like."

Zalara smiles, "I hope that we do, she seemed nice, but maybe she just wanted the ogres and gnolls off her mountain with minimum effort."

Selia shrugs. "Idle wonderings help pass the time until the next set of monsters in need of killin. Or who are actaully peaceful travelers framed by a greedy individual who then hires the Guild to slay said innocents."

"Or when there's an argument caused by the unknown intervention of a third party," groans Oates, recalling the recent mishap involving a refuse golem and the waylaying of a payment by an otyugh or the like.

Zalara hmms, "So far all the jobs that I've had from the Guild has been on the up and up although the whole yule spirits at the Professor's house was pretty weird."

Selia nods. "Most is straight foreward, but them few what ain't ya gotta watch out for. can make for serious trouble if let yourself get fooled."

"True, true," agrees Oates. "Of course, that applies to most things in life, so it's not like it's that different from normal."

Zalara nods, "And you'll go crazy if you try to find a conspiracy in everything."

selia says, "Well, wokring for the Guild does tend to make matters an issue of life and death sorta frequently. Not always your own life. and more than a few say ya gotta be pretty crazy to join up in the first place."

"Decent place to make a living off of your wits, though," muses Oates. "Sure beats not having enough acreage on the family farm for my own section, that's for sure. Besides, it's certainly been a learning experience, and that's usually a good thing."

Zalara smiles, "I don't know you get to help the city and most of the time you are trying to help people out, not a bad way to earn coin and I get to use my titan armor and death ray. That's always cool."

Selia nods. "though reckon that's most of life. Getting thru by your wits and good looks." The halfling a peers a moment. "...and luck. Luck plays a big part."

"You can never fully write off luck," agrees Oates. "Minimize its negative impact with judicious amounts of wits, yes, but not eliminate it entirely."

Zalara nods, "Always good to have good luck, but I think we make most of our own luck."

Selia peers another moment, and shrugs. "Reckon ain't so much how you go about doing what your gonna do, but what it is ya do with what ya got."

"Indeed," nods Oates. "A well-placed application of an improvised tool can easily be more effective than a lousy use of a high-quality tool."

Zalara smiles, "True enough. So what were you doing with the mirrors if you don't mind me asking."

Selia hesitates, then shrugs. "Trying a magic ritual. Have to get the light just right, and that ain't easy to do."

Zalara ohs, "What's the ritual? You know maybe there is a way to capture the sunlight."

Oates listens in attentively. While he's no spellcaster, he does know some of the basics of spell theory, and this might be informative.

Selia shrugs again. "Don't think is a proper name for it. Sorta muddeling my way thru on instinct, guesswork, and what some friends can tell me about it all."

Zalara nods, "Well if you'd like some help I'd be happy to help. You know maybe I could make an improved sunrod...so that it really gives off real sunlight.'

"What's the goal of the ritual - or whatever you think it might be called?" Oates inquires. His curiosity is fully interested by this.

Selia stares at Zalara for a long moment. "...that'd be nifty, but nay useful in this case. Just need a single candel." The halfling hesitates another moment, then shrugs. "Bring a friend 'cross the Veil of Planes to inhabit my shadow."

Zalara ahs a little bit, "Then what did you need all the mirrors for?" She asks and she hmms, "That don't sound very safe. What will it do once it's living in your shadow?"

Oates blinks for a moment. "I've heard that there are some people who are so attuned to shadow that they wind up with a familiar of sorts," he muses. "Never knew what was involved in that sort of process, but I hear it's no more hazardous to the summoner than a wizard's familiar."

Selia nods to Oates. "Something sorta like that, maybe. Ain't a wizard, so not sure." To Zalara, she nods. "Is dangerous. Sorta why wanna make sure it's done right. Gonna work together until we get things set, head off to find our families. First mine, then his, most likely."

Zalara nods a little bit, "Well be careful that you don't get drawn into the plane yourself. I recently went to the plane of air, it was cool."

"It certainly gave me a reason to study up on the planes," agrees Oates. "At least it was one of the more habitable planes - well, other than the debris field we wound up going through, but that's its own problem."

Selia nods. "Lot more hole 'tween the planes than would really like. Reckon where bunch of them mosters and stuff come from. Suppose at least keeps the Guild in busniess."

Zalara nods, "I wonder how many planes there are. Maybe there is a plane just filled with artifice."

"Heh. Wouldn't know," chuckles Oates. "I've heard that there are planes for every possible thing, and for all of the impossible ones as well."

Selia nods, forwns, and shakes her head. "Maybe not artifice. Clockworks, aye, on the Plane of Law, but artifice ain't quite the same, is it? Ain't sure is a plane for everything, but some of them planes go on forever. Can fit a lot of stuff in forever."

"I've heard that demiplanes are as varied as they are countless. Who's to say that what we think of as impossible couldn't exist in some of the more unusual demiplanes?" Oates wonders.

Zalara nods, "You could probably fit everything that ever was, is and will be...there could be another plane where everything is reversed."

Selia shrugs. "Suppose is possible. I ain't heard of such a place, but can't say the planes are my prime choice of studies."

"Nor mine, but unusual theories have a knack for grabbing the attention," admits Oates. "Well, I wish you benevolent fortune in your ritual and such, and may your summoned friend be worthy of the name."

Zalara nods, "Me neither, but it's interesting to speculate, well I have some work to do. Later." She gives a waves and heads out.

Selia nods, and rises, stretching a moment. "Aye, should be off myself. Will let ya know how the ritual turns out." The halfling gathers up her things, and pauses a moment. "If ya heard some news about a monster from another dimension going on a rampage, assume it didn't go well."

Oates chuckles, then waves and heads on his way.

Oates goes OOC.

Oates has left.

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