Schrodinger's Letter
Log Info
- Title: Schrodinger's Letter
- Emitter: Cryosanthia
- Characters: Cryosanthia, Auranar, Konstance, Faranmidahn
- Place: A10: Temple of Daeus
- Time: Wednesday, April 08, 2020, 3:23 PM
- Summary: Cryosanthia has gathered all the research material Zeke had, in an attempt to recreate his maps. Konstance and Auranar arrive, and assist in reading Adventurer Guild Reports that are related to Black Pools and Zeheir. The index is off, some of the reports are missing, but the sith-makar and the wild-elf are making a decent dent in them. Cryo explains she's doing this in order to find her cihuaa, and Auranar asks why she doesn't try more traditional methods, like scrying. Cryo hadn't thought of that. She does have a letter from Zeke, but she's afraid to read it because it might contain bad news and is waiting for Faran. Faran arrives, Cryo reads the letter, it is bad news and she reacts very badly to that and dissociates completely. Faran manages to talk her back to being responsive, but Cryo declares she doesn't care and would really like to go and drown herself. The wild-elf keeps both of them there, as Faran also seems on the verge of giving up, so they return to reading reports and Cryo quietly dots the map, marking disappearances.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* A10: Temple of Daeus *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
The temple of the Sun Lord glitters golden beneath the same. Rather than walls, the majority of the temple is composed of what appears at first blush to be a raised round platform made of one of the largest slabs of marble likely in existence. Columns rise into the air as if to hold some massive ceiling, though instead of a normal ceiling, one finds the deep blue sky, studded by a disconcertingly close canopy of bright stars. One should not worry, however, as the rain never falls, and the wind never blows on this particular temple, but for a gentle breeze, whatever the weather outside may be.
Despite the austerity of the columns, warmth suffuses the grounds. A grand, marble statue of the Shining Knight stands a the center, a hand outstretched in benediction. Beside Him, the statue of Althea, their hands clasped in love. The central position of the temple to the others gives view to all of their children, and the two look upon one another with the solemnity of love that has been the center of so many tales and legends.
Masterfully designed mana lamps provide further soft, golden lightning where needed, their pedestals carved in the form of the Dragons of Light, over which Daeus is said to have dominion in His form of Draco Solis. Majesty, justice, and welcome suffuse the temple grounds. Around the central temple are a series of smaller buildings, each with a simple function and form. One houses the sacred book depicting some of the earliest known translations of the Laws of Light, which pilgrims from near and far come to visit. Another houses the well-appointed quarters of the Sunguards, and among all the ground bristle the Sunblades.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Appearing, in Order -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Cryosanthia 6'9" 267 Lb Sith-Makar Female A dashingly tall, elegant white-scaled lizard woman. Auranar 4'8" 123 Lb Wild Elf Female A wild elf with dark skin and a red dress Konstance 6'2" 240 Lb Human Male A human with blonde hair and blue eyes Faranmidahn 3'3" 35 Lb Halfling Female Albino Lucht woman in black leather armor with a BIG spider -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
In the document section of the Temple of Daeus...
A white-scaled sith-makar has set herself up with a table, some velum, a quill and a bench. She isn't dressed like one of the faithful, she wears a layered wizard robe, in white with pale blue highlights. Concessions have been made for her tail and legs. Around her the records are stored. There are scrolls in baskets, in pigeon holes. There are also notebooks and larger tomes, newer books, or very, very old ones. Some are from the Temple, some are pamphlets ordered from the Adventurer's guild.
She has before her four inkwells, black, blue, red and green ink. Cryosanthia's plan is to duplicate the maps made by her cihuaa, maps which have vanished along with him. To this end she is copying the city map of Alexandria and adding the dots corresponding to vampire attacks, demon attacks, and disappearances. The green ink she's reserving for her new comments. It's painstaking and a little dull. She's finished tracing out the maps of the sewers, the cisterns and city water supply, and the streets. Entrances, either access holes or drains, are things she plans to mark as well.
She exhales, stretching her arms, wriggling her back then rocking on her bench. "Okay Cryo, time to read all the reports."
It's better than staring at the wall, waiting for news, news that will likely be bad...
Konstance had come to distribute books to the temple of Daeus and he gives them to the librarian. He then turns to see the sith and he walks over to her. He still doesnt wear any armor but his long flowing longcoat/robe he wears is there. "Oh the fun part of any endeavor, the painstaking research." He says with a smirk, his alexandrian accent easy to hear.
There is a rather short-statured elf moving with purpose through the temple toward the table ladened with both sith and a great deal of paperwork. She brings with her a stack of papers from deeper into the temple, and lays them down with care for their fragility. After arranging them neatly so that they will not fall over she bows her head poltitely to Cryosanthia, and after a moment of hesitation toward Konstance as well. "Peace on your nest. I was informed that you might be in need of a scribe to aid you in your work."
The sith doesn't notice either immediately, seemingly lost in her task.
Cryosanthia reaches and takes the top guild record. She looks at the cover, opens the first page. "Oh, Broken Barrels. Warehouse, this is the one that orc woman was talking about. Shagara. Oh stop talking to yourself Cryo. I am not talking to myself I am thinking out loud. I am making sure She knows what I'm doing because I'm such a Beloved Pet."
She goes silent for a while, reading through the report. She opens her notebook, writes some notes, "Warehouse, black blob with sparkles, barrels had a magic to sustain and contain them. Cutting splits them. Chases magic. Alchemical Fire works, barrels owned by a Z... Hmm Amythyst was involved with this, I should ask her. Someone got murdered and the butler ended up working for a Madame Gelfure at the Arcanists. Maybe."
The sith finishes making her first note, makes some marks on the map and looks over at Konstance, "Hello. Yes, well. Something to do, right Konstance?"
"As fun as this is to do alone, is there anything I can do to help?" He asks as he looks to her map. "Seems like these attacks are happening more and more often." He says as he watches the sith. When the elf comes he nods to her. Greetings."
The white-scale sith waves at a pile, "Well, you could look through some of these. Here, the next one is... 'Ice, ice bay'. Tell me if there's anything interesting in it, ooze or demons or Kol or people dying, disappearing, and then I can put some dots on the map and make some notes. I'll start on 'Same Sparkling slime'."
She has a letter in her pocket, an unopened letter.
The woman coughs politely, trying to draw attention toward herself. "Might I be of aid as well?" Her pink and black hair bounces as she coughs into her hand. She's not exactly outfitted as an adventurer, in fact she looks more like she should be heading to a tea party. "My name is Auranar, and I was sent by the temple to help. I'm volenteering today."
"Since when did you age?" Konstance asks the sith before looking to the papers she gestures and begins to go through them. "So you think everything is connected?" He asks curiously as he begins to go through the papers.
"Oh! Hello. Peace on your nest Auranar. This one is Cryosanthia. Well, hopefully you heard my instructions to Konstance? The next report to read would be.. 'Same Sparkling Slime'." The white-scale sith takes another report off the guild stack, holding it out. "These are minorly more interesting than the disappearance lists."
She looks over at the Inquisitor, "Well, there was a magic experiment at the Fernwood which went bad. It drew the attention of the Mistress. I went with Her, and apparently was away a long time and don't remember it. So, this happened while I was away in the Shard Tower."
"From what I managed to discern from these papers is that the area became cold and people began suffering from frostbite. Various people investigated..." he says as he reads the papers. "Seems to me that they found it was magical cold." He says with a shrug. Konstance then looks to the others.
Auranar moves to sit down, accepting the stack of reports from Cryosanthia as she does so, and making room for herself on the table. She clearly has made notes before, and comes with her own quill and inkpot to make them with. "A... slime was found wandering the streets by adventurers. Described as black and sparkling. It attached tried to eat a light spell attached to a wall and then ate the spells thrown at it by one of the adventurers. Sword divided it in two... and they saught it out where they thought it came from. Followed a person that exploded? There were more people down there with glowing blue in the center of their chests. Some of which exploded. These led them to a big black sparkling pool in the sewers which they apparently decided to leave alone." Auranar sounds mildly horrified as she reads out loud to herself from the records.
"You might have said, 'my those horns are nice' or 'those are some rough scales', not make it sound like I should be turned into luggage Konstance. I might still be vain and heartbroken about it." Cryo says, opening her pamphlet and starting to read. She doesn't sound hurt, more amused. The air seems cooler near her, especially once there is little motion to circulate it. The quill pen scratches as she listens and notes down what the others say.
"Okay, mine, Forest on Foot. A forest, oh! Iskandar, I know him. Walking weird trees." She starts laughing, "They set the trees on fire then the trees set them on fire! Then More fire... hitting the tree with an axe makes it explode, blue fire... they follow the trail these trees left back to a pond with a giant tree, the pond was black and sparkly, a giant ooze. Tree asks if they have come to poison it too. A man poisoned the treant and his trees a month earlier. Kept putting what looked like water into the trees pond until the pond turned black and sparkly. The letter Z again."
"The trees which exploded had that blue fire as well. I wonder if the treant still survives. Okay, the next three should be, Arachnaphobia, Arachnaphobia and Moar Oaks."
Another report, this one has a label which makes Auranar's nose crinkle but she doesn't complain about opening it up and reading the contents. "Adventurers were sent out to deal with some kind of spider infestation. A... talking.... spider." She shudders suddenly at the very thought. "Awe... it's... it's kinda sad. The giant spider's babies attacked the adventuers and their mother lept to defend them. The adventurers defended themselves... but the spiders died. They found some barrels marked with a 'Z' in the house."
She picks up the sister report. "Lets see. Cave with barrels inside it. Adventurers were attacked by something. They don't seem to know what. A stalagtite? And find a griffon sitting by a pool of black water. Apparently they found a letter with the barrels marked by a 'Lord Morgan'. They left both the pool of water and the griffon alone."
"More Orcs, not oaks, let's see. This took place in Mythwood." Cryosanthia opens and starts reading. She hums quietly, its musical and sounds a little like a stringed instrument. The pleasant tune continues even as she speaks, "Orcs had been through, killing everything, dark fog, bodies. -stringed-screache- EWW! Orcs eat People? I hope I don't know any socially that do. War band finds them, they fight. These orcs attack like machines, which they kind of do generally, but even more like machines than normal. Goblin with a death ray and some strange coloured potions."
"So this one has Morgan again, but I don't know how this one ties in actually. There was Lord Morgan in the first one, and a Morgan, and she called the Lord Morgan, who had killed his wife, an Imposter. There's no mention of ooze or a 'Z' at all. Only crazy, Jotun sized oruchs who weren't acting like oruchs. I'm not even sure where to mark this on the map. Ummm. I'll get an Alexandros one and put a pin in it for now."
"Mark where the spiders are, a friend of mine LOVES spiders, she might want to go visit. Oh, wait, you said all the spiders died. Maybe I won't tell her. She was hoping to get baby spiders for her spider. That would make her sad." Cryo pauses for a moment, tries to put the topic out of her mind. She doesn't like where it wandered.
"Looks like Trigswars 1 and 2 are next. And we lost the Inquisitor."
Auranar accepts the next two, adding them to her growing pile and cracking them open. "Oh this is interesting. A whole section of the forest was affected by... something. Giant slugs, a demon! Though it looks like a minor one that ran off pretty quickly. An elvish boy who said there was something in the well affecting his sister who... apparently being controlled by someone or something. Made her eyes glow blue and she attacked. They managed to get her under control. She might be someone to talk to." The last note that Auranar scraches down is a note of the family name in case someone wants to talk to the girl or her family.
"The part two to Trigswar has Shara, I've met her, and Darius, I met him yesterday, huge entourage and has a red dragon in his sword. So, they know this at least." Cryo notes down the names. A contact list will be good, the non-adventurers might be more helpful but knowing who has worked on things will help get a force together.
"So, they go to this woman, and the demon is Illfang, a tiny one. Did you already read both of them? You are good at research. Sephelia Trisgwar, is the girl's name? Oh I have an icicle dagger and..." Cryo trails off before she betrays how easily she's mentally controlled. "And there were odd plants."
"The next two look like Pipeline Problems, that's also split between reports."
Auranar frowns at the next two split reports, but again digs in without complaint, the complement making her smile somewhat. "Thank you. I do my best to be of help. Researching is sort of my thing." She coughs and starts to write out the next bit. "Looks like some adventurers were sent into the sewers because people were going missing down there. Something made the golem go a bit nuts? Something that made a horrible noise they didn't describe very well. Turns out it was... a blob made of mouths and black sparkling slime. Ew... Magic made it bigger... They split it in half and convinced part of it to chase mindlessly after a magical dagger. They trapped it in a wall of iron. Then led it around with magic missiles. Until the golem was able to bash it into a puddle. That's disgusting. Oh sweet mother of... they /left/ it down there trapped in a box. Part of it anyways!" She suddenly is pointing at her report in concern.
"They what? They left it in a box? They didn't tell anyone?" Cryosanthia stares over at Auranar's reports. "Well, I guess the report counts. Who were they? We should know where that box is, it's highly unlikely the slime stayed contained. I half expect to hear about it again in a newer report."
"As for mine, this one... might be out of order. It's before Pipelines on one list which has those before Trigswar, but after Pipelines on another." Cryosanthia flips to a few pages,
"So, Hot Day, at night, Mythwood again. Oruchs leaving a path of destruction. Krom, Morgan again, Here! She, the Mistress commanded them to destroy stuff. They meet the warband, fight. Possible invisible attackers. The oruchs are crying, which is unusual... It seems like they really aren't invested in this, but can't... yeah. They have no choice. Snowflake scar... One of the oruchs followed Kord. They left the bodies to pursue two more still on the loose." Cryo's left hand taps on the table a few times.
"Let's read a few more and see if that box shows up again, and if not we can make it a priority. Who was on that one?"
Auranar looks back over the report. "Munch, Astaren, Kira. I've never heard of any of them before." She shrugs and accepts the next report. "This one is Azog, Sasha, and Yelrona. Seems that one of the oozes was disolving a warehouse in the warehouse district so they attacked it. Azog cut it in half and the other two tried arrows and a spear. Seems that it's hard to tell what exactly worked against the things in this instance. A few more adventurers entered the scene late... Xasany and Deak? And they attacked the oozes also. Oozes because the orc chopped one of them into bits that were still alive. These things are horrible."
"My last one was 'The Destruction', this one is Kitty Capture. Let's see..." Cryosanthia reads. She seems well acquainted with sitting and reading, even though there's an athletic power to her. Pages are turned. Occasionally she huffs out a visible breath.
"Guild job to find a missing kitten. Darius is involved. Kitten is a panther sized razorback. Huh, I wonder if that is the cat he has now. Speculating whether it changed because it was near the Felwood, or evolution. Oh poor snake! The cat goes after Kruulvog's familiar. They gently beat the cat off, it runs away to a black pond with glittering water. Okay we need to mark these ponds, I think they're different ponds."
Cryo flips opens a couple of the previous records, verifies all the listed pond locations and notes them on the map.
"So, looks like they coaxed it back, and the cat might be with a Miss Melora, or maybe Darius and there were plans to return to the pond to do something about it. Oh! I've met Munch. He's a golem, he eats everything. EVERYTHING. Do not put your hand in his mouth. I know Azog too. Yes. Chopping the oozes is not a good idea."
The white-scale sith snorts, "The index is torn. Unwrought Souls is the last on the list for this stack, but there's a bunch in it. Let me check they're in order." She has to open each one, read the date the report was filed.
There are of course, more and more reports, and Auranar seems quite adept at taking notes on them, picking up another pair and sitting down with them. "This one seems to be about a tower that was located with a 'Z' on it. Yelrona, Morgan, Mel, and Nadara. They approched the tower and it had a saying writen on it. 'Speak my name and enter'. Mmmm. Seems that they guessed at the name and went inside. They find a laboratory inside with bodies and a mechanical golem. Seems that it was an active lab in spite of how abandoned it appeared. Found a room filled with bottles... Seems they woke up the golem somehow and it attacked them. Apparently it could speak, and they managed to disable it. Only it woke up again. So they... totally destroyed the lab." Auranar scrubs a hand over her face and shakes her head.
Cryosanthia looks up from trying to sort out a bunch of books. "Was... there a description of the laboratory, or the golem, and the name they were supposed to say? You can show me the name, you maybe shouldn't say it."
Auranar shifts the report notes over to Cryosanthia so that the sith-makar can see her neat hand-written notes. On the paper it says a brief description of the laboratory, but no description of the golem with the name: Zeheir underlined once. She arches her black eyebrow at the female sith, but waits patiently for her notes back.
The white-scale sith makes a few quick notes of her own, then hands them back. "Thanks. It was something I was curious about."
"Scalesssss!" Cryosanthia hisses, "The index is wrong too. Some of these are before Pipeline and Trigswar."
Auranar sighs. "Well it makes sense. Adventurers are the ones in charge of dating and adding these in the first place. Really it's a wonder it gets done at all from what I've heard." She sensibly lays aside her pen and looks at the sith. "I'd apologize, but I'm not in charge of the documentation."
Cryosanthia leans her head on her hand, and her elbow on the table and sighs as well, "It's here at least. Maybe this will make some sense of it. A lot of this would have been really useful to know before. My fault, for not thinking of it. My back is getting stiff. We're kind of almost there."
"I doubt anyone has had the idea to look through the adventurer's logs for information that might be useful. They're not the best record of what's happened and they're usually inocomplete." Auranar looks over the stacks of reports. "We're lucky to find this much, really though it makes me worried about what we're /not/ finding."
The palescale bobs her head a little. "I was expecting more too. This is so much tidbits, clues which don't connect together. I think I have the proper chronological order, I'll try to rebuild the index for these. He's Dead is noted as a sequel to Moar Orcs, and Pipeline comes after it. So I think it goes..."
She reads off her list, "Zaheir to the throne, He's Dead, Heavy Metal, Finding Edgar, Salina and the Slime, Pipeline Problems, Trigswar, Unwrought Souls, Zeheir's Tradgedy and... Home for Monsters and Fire and Brimstone have all sorts of dates... Um... which is the earliest..."
Auranar moves to look at the listings, frowning at them. "You must have a good reason for doing all this, because this... is a lot of work." She smiles brightly at the sith-makar however. "Still, at least you don't have to do it alone!"
"Maugrim Resurgent! Moar Orcs is dated after the He's Dead which says it's a sequel to Moar Orcs." Cryosanthia snorts at the pile of books, then stands to stretch herself. She is of course, quite tall when she unfolds. She gazes at Auranar and nods. "I... am looking for my lost love, to make it sound a little more romantic. He has vanished and he made some maps from this information, and I'm hoping if I put it all together I'll have some clue where to look, where he might have gone."
"It's not hopeless, but it feels like it sometimes. I really appreciate your help. I'm Cryosanthia, Speaker of the Sith Makar, by the way. I have signed my name so much today I've forgotten if I introduced myself."
Auranar blinks at the curse and smiles a small smile to herself. "Looking for your lost love is a reason enough for such indeed. I'm glad I can be of assistance." She offers her hand to Cryosanthia. "You did not introduce yourself before, but it is a pleasure to meet such a dedicated individual. I don't meet many people that would be willing to spend so much time with their noses crammed in books like these."
Cryosanthia takes Auranar's hand gently, giving it a squeeze and a shake. She is wearing her gloves, which have picked up a smearing of dried in in several shades. "A pleasure meeting you as well, and I greatly appreciate the help. I was despairing of find any and sticking to this task. I need to do something, staring at the walls was not helping my state."
The pink and black haired elf sits back down, rearranging some of her notes and also the pages that she's been going through. "If you don't mind my asking, why not find your love directly? In the old fashioned way?"
"Stand on the highest outcrop and sing my call for him?" Cryosanthia takes her seat again as well. She is slouching, human scale furniture is just a little undersized by a few inches, enough that things are often a little bit too close or too low. Still, it doesn't compare to elven or fae sized things. "It didn't occur to me, to be honest. That he would hear, that he would come if he heard. I would try scenting him out but there are a lot of things to sniff in Alexandria and it gets overwhelming after a while."
Again the elven woman blinks but smiles. "I suppose it would be horribly sad if he didn't hear you, and such a call would be undoubtly heard by others and cause a great deal of questions. I suppose I meant magic. If my lover were lost to me I would work a spell to find them." She rolls her shoulders in thought and looks at the display of paperwork before them. "If not that, then I would ask others that know them well, perhaps family?"
Her tail twitches, there's a little more she hasn't said. Cryo laughs, "Those spells are beyond me, I'd have to hire someone. And his family, well, his mother might know. He might have gone to her. We... don't get along."
She scratches at the table, draws a small snarl on one of the notebooks. "He... sent a letter. I've... be afraid to open it. Good news, would keep and bad news... I've had a lot of bad news lately."
"Wait! You can do the spell?"
"A letter?" Auranar makes a soft sound that's like a sigh. "Perhaps he told you where to find him in the letter! You have to have hope." The elvish woman leans forward, clearly engaged in the idea of love-lorn sith. Then she looks a bit embarassed. "I ah... don't have the practice for such spells yet. But if I knew one I would cast it for you."
Cryosanthia takes the letter out of her pocket. She holds it up to her nose and inhlaes, it still smells faintly of Zeke. She places it on the table where she stares at it, warily, as if it is a sparkly ooze, as if it might attack. "I remember a story about a cat and a box. I think, whether a cat got in the box, and the point of the story was that as long as the box wasn't opened you didn't know if the cat was in it or not, or what kind of cat you were getting. This letter feels like that. Sooner or later I'll have to open it and let the cat out or I'll have a dead cat, but... not knowing... issss..."
Auranar looks at Cryosanthia sadly. "So you'd rather not know? I don't think I could bear it in your place; the not knowing. If..." She trails off, coughing and looking away. "It's your choice, but if you don't have hope. Hope that something good will happen today then there's nothing."
"Sometimes... we forget that as long as there's a tomorrow, there's a chance it will be a better one." comes a small voice up the aisle a ways. The source, an albino, tall for the Lucht race shrouded in a spiderweb traced black cloak has a thoughtful smile at her lips as a laceclad hand emerges from her cloak to wave. Her facial adornments and helm are absent, but the little sorceress is nontheless ready for... whatever, "The priests said I could find you here, I was... curious, how are you, both today?"
"I'm waiting for a friend. In case it's bad." Cryosanthia rubs at the base of one of her horns, holding onto it and using it as a handle to rock her head about in an attempt to relax some of her neck muscles. "You're right though. I have charged blades and demons far more easily than I have approached this letter. And there is my friend. So, I should open it."
The palescale reaches out, takes up the letter and slits the top open. She removes the paper inside. A ribbon falls out, rotating as it drops to the table. Cryo gives it a curious glance. She opens the letter and reads.
She sets it down.
Auranar's gaze travels with the ribbon at first then glances toward the unknown Lucht woman. "I think we're about to find out what happened to her lost love. I think it must be good, he sent her a token of his favor." The elvish woman talks in low tones so as to not disturb Crysoanthia while she speaks, but her black eyes are held by the sight of the sith-makar; anxiously awaiting the verdict.
The following letter is written in Draconic, in sharp jagged pictographs, and smells faintly of Zeke. There are two paragraphs of the tightly spaced images.
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My Cihuaa,
This one knows that it is wrong to hide away from you, but this one has recieved word and proof that this one has succeeded in slaying your hatchling. This one must seek absolution for what was done, must find some way to atone. It is known now, that the light of the Dragonfather does not turn away from this one, but rather that this one turns away from the light because to see it is too painful a thing. The light of the Dragonfather, and your light too. You, against everything this one has been taught have chosen this one. A thing that can no longer be denied or ignored. How cruel is it then that this one can not be at your side now.
Please understand that knowing what this one has done to you is a pain that bears this ones heart to the ground. Though this one knew that it was inevitable, this one did not know exactly how painful this future would be. Would this one find forgiveness in you as this one has found forgiveness in the Dragonfather? This one can not know. If you can find it in your heart to do so, then take this ribbon and tie it around your wrist. If not, than this one will ever endevor to leave you in peace. The choice is yours, as it has always been.
Zeke
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Cryosanthia stares, her hands settle in her lap. She doesn't move otherwise.
GAME: Faranmidahn attempts to cast Detect Magic but fails due to ASF.
Faranmidahn looks somewhat stricken by the remark for a moment, but shakes her head, 'He did? That's...' Intruiging, 'Romantic.' She does something with her hand under her cloak and whispers softly to herself, "bleep bleep beagle bleh bleh sandy blah sandy blrgl blah bleep" she yelps in pain, and massasges something, "beagle" <unknown>
Auranar seems to grow more worried as Cryosanthia stares off into space. "Or... not?" Her eyes flicker toward the letter, but she can not read draconic so... it means nothing to her. Instead she slips out of her seat and calls out a little. "Cryosanthia? You, you're her friend right? She said she was waiting for you in case it was bad news."
"This one is here. This one is not going anywhere." The palescale sith says, her voice quiet. She otherwise doesn't move, keeps staring into the nothing of near space.
GAME: Faranmidahn casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 2 DC: 14
"bleh sandy bleep bleh bleh bleep blah bleh blah blrgl" she says softly, before her eyes return to Cryosanthia, or rather, what's in her hand and she makes more gestures under cloak, whispering most of the same words of her mother tongue, "blrgl sandy beagle bleep sandy beagle" with some extra, "blrgl bleep bleep bleep blrgl blrgl blrgl" and a pinkish light takes to her eyes. <unknown>
'I am, miss. I'm Faranmidahn, it's nice to meet you.' she says softly, before her eyes return to Cryosanthia, or rather, what's in her hand and she makes more gestures under cloak, whispering most of the same words of her mother tongue, "beagle bleh blah bleep bleh blah" with some extra, "beagle blah bleh blrgl sandy bleep bleep" and a pinkish light takes to her eyes. <unknown>
"Auranar. I was helping her do some research." Finally Auranar moves closer to the sith that she has only just met, laying a hand on her shoulder. "What does it say? Was I wrong? Is it terrible news?"
"I have been sent half a dead cat. Menel is Dead. Zeke has killed him. My mate has killed my foundling child and begs my forgiveness." Cryosanthia sounds very automatic as she speaks. Her voice is flat. "I have lost one, I can choose to lose both."
She blinks slowly, still staring straight ahead. There is no mirth to her words. "On the plus side, I'm feeling nothing. Nothing at all."
Faranmidahn smiles some with the pink glow still in her eyes, though it abruptly ends as her face, aghast turns toward the sith, "....what...?" comes from the barest whisper. In a flurry, the tiny woman throws herself at Cryo in an attempted hug to confort her. Or... to get something through the cold, anyway.
Horrified Auranar moves forward, grabbing the letter up and glaring at it as if it had offended her. "Well I say /hell/ no to that! You don't need some guy who..." She shudders and the paper shakes in her hand. "I'll get rid of this for you. That's horrible! I'm so sorry. I should never have told you to open it."
Cryosanthia absorbs the impact of the little lucht, her body moving as Faran embraces her hard. She doesn't respond, she doesn't reciprocate. She remains staring straight ahead. Her hand moves and picks up her pen, then sets it down again.
"The messenger is not at fault for the news they bear." She closes her eyes. That dark chasm she was fluttering over, she falls straight in. Down and down and down. Feeling nothing.
Faranmidahn snaps her head toward the other woman, "Don't!" Her eyes lower, then refocus, "We'll need it." her tone solemn, expression sympathetic and grim. She reaches out for Cryo's face with her tiny hands to try and draw her eyes to her, "Cryo... Cryo, look at me."
The elvish woman freezes at the sound of Faranmidahn's sharp words, holding the paper suddenly more delicately in her hand. "What do you mean don't? That she'll /need/ it?" Auranar sounds perfectly horrified at the thought.
Stop heart. Not one more beat. Why do you still sound and pound. Is this not enough? How are you so broken yet not. What more have I to lose that you keep going. Everything taken yet oblivion will not claim me.
Cryosanthia closes completely in on herself.
The lucht sees the look in her eyes, shakes her head as she tries to focus her will, to bypass the heart and keep her mind on task, then looks back at the elfmaid, "Fine. -I- need it." From the tone she is of dubious success on that score, her hands still cradling Cryo's face, "Cryo, Cryo, honey.... it's not over, yet." She draws herself close to her friend's ear, whispering, "Merek's been dead, twice... we can bring Mister Menel back to life!"
Auranar relents, sighing and placing the letter on the table. "I think it unwise. Here. I'm no healer so I'll go fetch one for her." Auranar moves off, clearly to fetch a cleric to help Cryosanthia.
She doesn't hear, and if she hears, she doesn't believe. Reasons why it will not work present themselves to her. Cryo might share, but the desire too drains right away. Faran will find out soon enough. She trusts her mate to be smart and skilled, and if he is not, why he will try again. It's what she would do. It's what she made him do. As her thoughts spiral down and down she feels nothing but cold emptiness.
Faranmidahn hears the paper settle onto the table, and she says a soft, "Thank you, miss." her voice thicker as Cryo hasn't reacted to her reassurances. She loosens her hug by degrees, drawing back to look into the sith's face. She stares in anguish for some time, trying to decide what to do, then, at first, all she says is, eyes hardening, "No..."
Cryosanthia is expressionless. Her pupils, her eyes, seem perfectly normal, her breathing regular. Except for that, she's not moving at all. Then, she stands, becoming verticle and pushing off the table, the bench moving behind her with the push of her legs.
"Faran. I release you from your oath. You have discharged it admirably. This one no longer needs your protection. There is nothing left in this world that can hurt me. Only give a mercy."
She takes up the ribbon, turns to walk around the table and out.
Oh, no.... She's not walking away after dragging -her- back! The little woman scoots around the table, moving to cut her off if she can, "Gods damn it, what the hell is wrong with you!" she cries. she brings her hands to her head then thrusts them up at Cryo, fingers splaying with the motion as if trying to throw her thoughts, or her emotions into the sith's head, "There's a chance! Yes, Zeke knows about the spell. YES, he'll probably do something to disrupt it. You can have Menel back if you don't give up, and -help me-! I'm trying to track someone I don't know! I can't sniff him out, I don't know his favorite places. Those are -your- secrets, without you there's no chance to save -either of them-!"
There's a cleric following Auranar now, one hastily gathered from among Daeus' faithful. She slows as she comes onto the scene once again however, noticing Faran trying to stop Cyrosanthia from leaving. "I think your friend is right," she comes up to help block the path forward, hands gently outstreched in a friendly manner. "I mean I have /no/ idea what she's talking about, but you shouldn't go running off after the shock you just had. Sit down and let this cleric look after you."
"Faran, I don't care." Cryosanthia looks her way, and she's simply not there. She looks back at Auranar and the cleric with her. She shrugs, "I feel fine. Zeke will find me in the Tormwrar, or not. Menel will be brought back, or not. Seldan will save the day, or not. I felt too much and it broke and now I feel absolutely nothing at all. I'd like a cold swim. That's what I want right now.
Faranmidahn shrugs, "You win. He can fish us out, together." the lucht says simply and turns to try and match the sith's stride. Auranar's jaw drops at Faran's announcement, but what can she say? She really doesn't understand the situation at all. Her shoulder slump slightly as her eyes turn back toward the table full of notes and all the work that it will be to clean it up. WIth a soft sigh she motions for the cleric to leave. "Good luck." She doesn't know if sith or lucht hear her, but she says it nonetheless, then moves to start putting things in neat piles.
"Oh little one, you wouldn't survive the water and temperature. It would be suicide for you. You should keep her here." Cryosanthia says, sounding distant and disinterested, the last is directed at Auranar or the cleric. "I'm built for it. I'll be fine."
For a while. Zeke will have to find her quickly. Well, either outcome will be fine.
"Everything will be just fine."
"You know, Salina, I'm really getting sick of hearing out of you. I want my friend back." Faran says in a flat tone, hooking her thumbs on her swordbelt. A shrug, "The song and dance at the Fernwood though... you had me with that." the flint in her voice chips, "Had my Cryosanthia back long enough for a cup of coffee."
"Wait." Auranar squeaks and sets the papers down with a hollow thump. "She's serious?" The elf moves forward suddenly to block Cryosnathia's path once again. "Look, there's no guy out there worth killing yourself over. Your... your fosterling wouldn't want that would they?" She looks a bit panicked, looking between Faranmidahn and Cryosanthia and back again. "What are you saying? Look. I'll pay for a scroll to locate this guy for you okay? You can get revenge on him or whatever you want! Just don't do anything you'll regret!"
"I don't want revenge. I don't want to find him. I don't know if I'll feel anything when I see him again. I don't know what my fosterling wants, or if he can be brought back. If I feel any bit more I'll break. I don't care because I can't care. I want a swim. I'm sure everything will be fine if I have a swim. I want to float away." Cryosanthia still doesn't look at anyone, and still sounds like shes automatically saying her words. "There's no Salina, Faran, it's all simply too much."
Faranmidahn looks up to the elf, "It's alright, miss, thank you, though." affects a smile, a porceline mask; beautiful, fragile and manufactured. Then she starts to move around her, "Have a good evening. Come on, we're gonna be late."
Auranar blinks at Faranmidahn. "You're... you're goning to /take/ her to the river? And just let her..." She throws up her hands in exasperation but puts them on her hips. "Look I'm not... I don't /know/ you two, but I'm not letting her walk into a river and off herself because of... /anything/. You'll have to knock me out!" She stubbornly sets herself between the sith-makar and the exit.
"I'd rather not, you might not read as fast." Cryosanthia says, still sounding out of it. She exhales hard, "Fine. Let's go back to the map and I'll swim later."
She returns to the table, sits down and gets out the list of disappearances and starts making dots.
Faranmidahn cants her head a touch at that, but only pauses in her forward momentum, she doesn't turn. She doesn't dare, not yet. The distant tone coming out of the sith makes her knuckles whiten under her cloak, her back still to the others and her teeth threatening to meet through her bottom lip. o O (Salina, you poisonous rotter, I curse you with all I am! Damn you, and damn your eyes with iron filings, you bitch!) O o are the most civil strings of hate taking her inner monologue out for a spin. "What do we have" a crimson droplet spatters on the floor, "so far?"
Auranar makes a placating gesture toward Faran, looking a little intimidated by her. "Um. We were just trying to draw a correlation between the events which are listed out by the adventurers and where they happened I think." She lowers her voice. "I'm not an expert on the sith, but... is that normal behavior for them? She said you two were friends right? I mean she was really worried about this guy earlier and now she's..." She waves a hand toward Cryo calmly going through the reports like a golem.
"These stacks are everything related to oozes, read, not read. These are everything related to Zehir, read, not read. This is the new master list of what order they all happened in, based on their Guild entry dates. This is the map of Alexandros showing the weird occurances, this is Alexandria's sewers, this map is the cistern and city water, and this one is the streets. These lists, Temple, Town Guard, Civic, are the disappearances. These are the demon sightings and demon attacks, and vampire sightings and attacks."
Cryo is sounding very disinterested and mechanical, and she's picked the most boring task, going through the lists and marking a dot, making a date, making a note.
Faranmidahn bows her head a moment slowly swiping her thumb across the slow crimson crawl trickling from her mouth, but she holds up the other hand to the elf, "May I see one, please?" her tone off.
Obediantly Auranar retrieves one for Faranmidahn, watching the pair with a deep air of curiosity. However her black eyes keep flickering toward the note that sits slightly crumpled on the table and the ribbon wrapped around Cryosanthia's wrist. She shakes her head and eventually makes her way back toward the seat that she had been sitting in before, but with the air of someone ready to rocket to their feet should... well a sith-makar decide to make a beeline for the door and the river beyond.
Cryosanthia seems, well like she might bolt at any time. Except, she doesn't. She distinctly avoids looking at the crumpled note. She also tugs the sleeve of her robe down so the ribbon isn't visible. It's there, but she's not looking at it around her wrist. Instead, she simply goes through the lists, slowly dotting up the map and making some corresponding entries. It's almost a waste, since it's repeating work Zeke has done before, but it keeps her seated.
Two other things are noteable, she doesn't read any more adventure logs and her words are a minimum. Amusing things which might normally draw a comment, don't. The other things is, she writes beautifully in a nice calligraphic script. She is quick at it, but the language is completely unrecognizeable.
Faranmidahn intones a gentle, "Thank you, miss Auranar." her tone a little more under control this time, though her empty hand busies itself with her eyes before she starts to read, "Log entry... He's Dead." A sigh, "Someone named Erakirak..."
Auranar winces at the log title, her eyes mostly on Cryosanthia, but it's hard for her to focus on the work now. It's more important to keep the sith and lucht here than it is to take proper notes, but she does her best to do both. She keeps quiet, after all, she knows that she doesn't understand.
Cryosanthia for her part, takes notes like a good little scribe, a beloved pet. Whenever the other two are speaking she writes down what is said and puts nothing of herself on the page beyond the beautiful writing and her little Cryo-dragoneye signature at the bottom.
Dot, dot dot, scratchy-scratchy. It is the predominante sound in the room besides the turning of pages and the occasional verbal summary of one of the texts.
