On Scrolls, Brothers, and Gifts

Log Info

• Title: On Scrolls, Brothers, and Gifts

• Emitter: Ravenstongue

• Characters: Auranar, Dolan, Ravenstongue, Telamon

• Place: Verna and Auranar's house

The late afternoon on this first day of Firetide sees Cor'lana Lúpecyll-Atlon hurrying back up the steps that lead to her lately-residence, the home that Verna and Auranar have so graciously offered to herself and Telamon to occupy for the time being. The reason she's hurrying back up is... Not terribly obvious, not at first, but it's soon clear when she reaches the door and pants--and then laughs a little in victory at Pothy, who swoops down next to her and gives her an unhappy-sounding croak.

"Well, now you have to buy me food," Cor'lana tells Pothy with a wide grin. "How the tables have turned. Let's get inside."

She raps on the door a few times while Pothy returns to her shoulder, the bird making grumbling noises that demonstrate how unhappy he is to have lost in an apparent race to the house.

The knocking sparks a response that is a flashback to the not-so-distant past. The door only cracks open just enough that one can witness the knockers and any who might be in the vicinity. After a long moment of survey, the door is opened further to reveal Verna. "Cor'lana. Apotheosis. Please, come in. I trust you did not encounter any ... strangeness in your venture?"

Thankfully, the stone construction of the residence seems to deflect at least some of the heat. For the rest, well... Telamon has an unseen servant-driven box fan that helps push a breeze through the house. And so he's seated in the parlor, going through some extensive arcane notes, his brow furrowed in concentration until the knock breaks him out of his focus. His head jerks up, eyes glittering in confusion, before he realizes someone's at the door.

Of course, Verna beats him to the doorway, and Tel is there soon enough to greet his wife. "I thought I felt you approaching," he teases her. "What Verna said. How did things go?"

"Hello, both of you. No, just a walk out and about," Cor'lana replies as she steps inside. "Pothy wanted to stretch his wings, and... I was feeling a little tired of being cooped up in here myself."

She offers Telamon a peck on the lips that's facilitated by her rising up onto her tiptoes, as per usual, before she goes to walk into the parlor. "It seems... clear to me," she says. "For now. I think I also have a way to get that scroll I talked to you about, Verna, but I might have to pick up another adventuring job to make that work." Cor'lana sits down on a chair and sighs, Pothy going to rest elsewhere in the room. She looks like she has more to say, but doesn't air it out quite yet.

Verna turns as she closes the door, attention following the entrants. "I have one available for your immediate use or distribution, Cor'lana. As well, I acquired custody of the other item inquired of. Perhaps none too soon, as I fear that we have become a target of interest."

Telamon smiles at the kiss, though his expression becomes sober once again. "As usual, sister, you have a gift for understatement. Take care when you move out and about, Lana. I suspect there's a little desperation driving our opponents -- some of these schemes seem a little rushed. Still, a desperate foe is incredibly dangerous."

He sits down next to Lana, picking up his paperwork. "On the upshot, I think I've figured out some new tricks. Which is a good thing, since I suspect time is... starting to become short."

As if on cue, there's a knock on the door, a firm rap and in a specific pattern that Dolan commonly uses.

Cor'lana looks relieved at the news that Verna has managed to obtain what they were looking for, although it's followed shortly after by a look of confusion. "The scroll of mage's disjunction, Verna? Or the scroll of wish? I can only imagine the scroll of mage's disjunction is far less expensive to acquire than a scroll of wi--"

She shakes her head. "No, wait. Target of interest..." And then her violet eyes flash with realization. "Does this have to do with that storm that Telamon and I arrived back home to, only to see it disappear?"

Her hand goes to rest on Telamon's leg, and she offers a smile at her husband, but then that rapping, a-tapping comes at the... residence door. Cor'lana blinks, and then she brightens. "Oh! That's Dolan, I believe. Let him in, Verna."

"Ah!" Verna startles, both from Lana's correction and the unexpected tapping at the door. The pattern is familiar and she trusts her judgement, thus the door is opened normally. "My apologies, Dolan," she offers once he is confirmed, "I did not intend to close the door upon your arrival. Please, enter."

She allows him to do so and scans the portico before reclosing the portal. Turning back, she nods to Telamon before looking to Cor'lana once more. "Indeed, they may be desperate. Yes, I believe the storm was no random occurrence. As for the other scroll, any necessary funds are at your disposal if you located a seller. If not, I shall acquire such."

"Take care with such a scroll, Lana," Telamon cautions. "Wishcraft is not just a spell. I've read of how it tugs at the very fabric of what is, and reality, well... it doesn't like to be tugged on too much."

That being said, he puts his arm around Lana's shoulders, smiling. "I suspect this is about what transpired the other day after the storm, when I swung by Dolan and Andelena's place." His free hand flexes a bit. "On the upshot, it didn't go well for the bad guys."

Dolan is indeed at the door, stripped down a good deal from the attire he'd worn over the winter. Indeed, he's down to just shirt and trousers in the heat, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows like any farmer boy. He's eschewed the armor and jacket, and wears only the longsword strapped to his hip. "Brightest of days," he greets the group generally. "We're on about those assholes who tried to steal me and Andie's totems? Couple of them had a bad day, sure," he agrees, setting down the knapsack once he is well inside and setting that and his weapon belt by the door. "But that was a damned close call, Tel. I owe you one."

"Scrolls of wishing are expensive and for good reason," Cor'lana replies to Verna. "But if you're willing to help offset the cost--I won't object at all. I hope it ends up being something that I don't end up using, because as Telamon says--that is magic. Even if I'm capable of casting its 'younger sibling' now--that doesn't mean it's going to be like the real thing."

She peers over to the doorway. "Hello, Brydion! Telamon told me about that incident," she calls over. "It's true; they are acting rather desperate now."

Verna frowns at the reference to other related recent events as she moves towards her seat. She stops at a bookshelf to remove a tome, then a coinpurse beside it before replacing the tome. She resumes her move to sit, offering the small purse to Cor'lana. "This should account for a third of scroll cost, if that will suffice."

She now seats herself and exhales. "I likewise hope that it need not be used, as such is significant. Do you have any notion of when Dace Zinskas might act? All is a sign, to me, that it best we take action soon. I do not wish this residence to be a place of fear again, and much less so with all of my family in residence."

Telamon smiles at Dolan grimly. "Yeah, it didn't turn out well for them, did it? A bit overt, too -- I didn't expect that sort of thing." He leans back, his arm still around Lana, considering. "Zinskas isn't going to move until he has the disjunction scroll. And I don't think he mentioned any kind of a sign. Regardless, though, we should move against the camp in the Vast, preferably as soon as he DOES make his move."

"One, we have no guarantees he will come out on top. Seraquoix has proven to be a ruthless and capable opponent. Two, regardless of his diplomatic attempt, he is an emissary of the Hound. Nothing personal, but if he thinks we're letting him take the reins of the Red Maw, he's nuttier than squirrel shit. My thought is that we let Zinskas and Seraquoix duke it out, and we deal with the Red Maw and the portal."

"Tel's got it in one," Dolan agrees immediately, following the others into the parlor and settling down in a chair near the hearth even as the others talk. "I assume you mean the scroll for Zinskas. Yeah, I'm with Tel here. Don't wait. We deal with the portal and the Red Maw," he pauses a moment and lets out a breath. "V ain't got a whole lot of interest in this plane. You take its toys and far as we know, it's got no reason to be here. It'll piss off and leave Marsward to swing in the wind. Evil's like that."

He leans forward, elbows on his knees, his gaze intense. "Micha said that the wolves in the brewery are split, too. Soon's Seb comes around, I'll find out what he's got to say, and we'll know more then. For now, let's try to take out the portal and the Maw, because it sure sounds to me like if we do that, their entire reason to work together falls into the bottom of the outhouse."

Cor'lana blinks a few times at being offered the coinpurse, and then her expression melts into something like Pothy's look in his blue eyes when he's just been offered a generously-sized snack without him asking. "Oh Verna. You don't have to!" she says, but it's followed after by, "Thank you. You are so kind."

She looks over at Dolan and nods soberly at his words. "I am not of a mind to wait, either," she says. "I'll try and contact Dace within the dream to let him know I have the scroll and can hand it off to him--and that we'd like to know when it will happen. Just in case we feel like ending Dace after he kills Marsward--if he kills Marsward in addition to destroying the device powering the portal--is a tactically sound maneuver."

There's a moment where Cor'lana looks at Verna. "Where are Zalgiman's ashes being kept?" she asks. "Or is that information you're keeping close to your chest in the event of mind-reading?

Verna's neutral countenance breaks into a brief, light, smile at Cor'lana's gratitude. "You are family, Cor'lana, thus there is no better cause." Her expression flattens afterwards as she nods. "I believe it best that I keep that information close as a precaution. Rest assured his remains shall be well cared for, to be returned when the threat has passed."

"Indeed," she addresses all. "We do not wait. If Zinskas succeeds, the portal and The Maw will be vulnerable. If he does not, he will yet be a challenge and distraction to Marsward and followers. I am prepared to unpower the device myself should he fail. If naught else, he provided knowledge of the means to do so. We close the portal and banish The Maw."

Telamon nods tightly. "This is an opportunity. We don't dare let it go to waste. If Zinskas and Seraquoix come to blows -- and I expect they will -- it will be a massive distraction for everyone in the camp. So we pile into them, collapse the portal, banish the Red Maw -- and as Dolan notes, if V can't make use of it, he'll find something else to do. Stops being our problem."

The sorcerer leans back, looking at Dolan. "Still? Why hasn't Seb awakened? Is this aftereffects from his mother's machinations or are we looking at something more serious here?"

"We don't know yet," Dolan sighs, scratching at the side of his neck and then running a hand through his hair worriedly. "They won't tell us anything, and they won't let even Andie in to see him. All we can do is trust that he'll be okay."

"You damn bet they'll come to blows. So will the wolves following him. Let Dace start the fight, I guess, and we go in while everyone's too busy killing each other to look, I s'pose. Should work, but we'll have to be quick. Andie's working on my blade."

Cor'lana looks surprised at the mention of Andelena working on Dolan's blade. "It's not broken, is it?" she asks with a small frown. "You seemed so happy with that blade, and with her for making it. And I'm sorry to hear her brother's still unwell."

She looks at Telamon. "Maybe we ought to send something nice over for Brydion's wife-to-be?" she asks him. "I can't imagine what it's like to have a little brother that's sick. If it were Pothy, I'd probably be drowning in my own tears, you know?"

Telamon nods to Dolan. "Let me know if there's anything we can do, Dolan." He taps the fingers of his free hand on his knee, thinking, before sighing. "Hopefully he's getting the best care the temple can offer."

Glancing at Lana, he smiles. "That'd be a nice idea. Let's put our heads together on that, work out a nice little pre-nupital gift for her. If nothing else, it'll be a welcome temporary distraction from the crises we're dealing with."

"No, she's adding another enchantment," Dolan answers, grinning sheepishly. "Everything's fine. The money we took off those two demons, plus a payout from a Guild job, paid for the materials to strengthen the enchantment on it. Stupid creatures," he snickers, the one brown eye bright with amusement and affection. "I'll say we came out ahead in the end, but Tel's right. We've got to be careful."

The expression softens at the mention of doing something for Andie. "She's pretty stressed, but I think she's working it off in the forge, yeah? That's mighty nice of the both of you to offer. We don't have a lot of space in the flat, though."

Cor'lana brightens considerably when she hears the sword is actually receiving more enchantment. "Oh! Wonderful! Sometimes things do just work out neatly like that. Not often, but... Well, you do occasionally get to stomp down the face of evil and then profit from it. It's nice."

There's a twinkle in her eyes, which is either a promise of something lovely or something that might be so feytouched that Dolan will have to veto whatever she's thinking from his home. "Don't worry," she says. "I promise that Telamon and I won't send you anything large. I have some ideas already, in fact..."