4 - 058: The Fourth Piece

[K Man]

Romar -

Telena smiles genuinely.



"Just Telena will do."

She does indeed reply 'yes' to the questioning about Girud and her face becomes thoughtful when you mention the Sandstrider name.

"I was named as such for the surname of my father, a roaming giant. He left my mother a ruin and headed Northwest..." She becomes a bit sullen, a painful memory. "It would not surprise me if he had taken another wife later in life and had more children."

"You speak of this Girud as though you have spent much time with him. How do you know him?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Irris and Tineniel -

The man chuckles, his every second near you a mockery of your shattered psyche. There's something about him, something about the way he bristles with power, how the stars seem to dim as he speaks words that send chills down your spine.



"Who am I? No one of consciousness. Listen..." He rambles on quickly, barely giving you time to absorb what he says between soup bites. "...I know alot about you both, even moreso now that you both lack your minds, but that's not what I'm here for."

"I'm here because of that and the shard it carries."

He points to the behemoth cart carrying the waters of the Life-Giving Lake. In a moment, your minds become a thunderstorm of memories; Shards, Master, obligation...promises. The man smiles, seeming to know exactly what you're going through. He nods knowingly.



"Yes...you feel it, you remember it don't you? Well, you're not the only ones that remember it. They want it and they won't stop until they have it."

"Someone is coming for it...and you cannot let them have it!"

He non-chalantly finishes the bowl of soup, tossing the dish to the sand.

"They will ruin the earth if they get it...and frankly, I'm starting to like it here. Do you think you can do that? Put that little mind full of spells to use and perhaps pick up a sword again?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone in the Fortress -

{Sorry to bog everyone down again, but who's taking the boots acroos? Girud? With a rope?}

Map;

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|  _______________#_______________  |
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| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
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| |...............................| |
| |...............................|R|
| |...............................|T|
| |...............................|D|
| |...............................|M|
1#................*...............#3
| |...............................|K|
| |...............................|G|
| |...............................|A|
| |...............................|Y|
| |...............................| |
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| |_______________#_______________| |
|_________________4_________________|

[/pre]
<<<Legend>>>

* = Top of Pillar (3ft wide)
# = Top of Staircases, 1-4
...... = Darkened Pit
A = Galdren
G = Girud
M = Mordrock
D = Adelia
T = Alton
K = Krysta
R = Garor
Y = Yuri

[You're 75+ ft. from the pillar]
__________________________________________________________________________________________

[Wizard]

"I'm here because of that and the shard it carries."

*FLASH!*


Irris stands on cobbled streets, in air wetter than he's ever felt before. He is surrounded by a crowd, all oriented toward one man standing at ground level, his nearby stand forgotten.



The man waves his hands, and four liveried men pull a wagon into the streets. Something, about the size of a large humanoid, sits in the cart covered by a cloth tarp. As the wagon comes to a stop, the man strides to the wagon and rips the tarp from it, revealing it to be a giant crystal shard, milky white in color.

"This is a sign from the gods that good will win this war!"

The crowd erupts into cheering.

And Irris finds himself cheering, too.

*FLASH*

The bright city (City? Was that a city?) day is gone, replaced by the firelight, playing out flickering patterns on the strange man's face.

"It...it is important, isn't it? But, if you know..."

His face hardens. "Who am I? And who are you to know?"

[TheUdjat]

It is a fact that, when one hears words spoken (and perhaps when one sees words written as well), they are incapable of truly appreciating the depth of every word spoken. Rather, certain words are inclined to 'jump out' at the listener, to catch their attention and hold it long enough to dull the importance of the surrounding words.

Tineniel, in that moment, was somewhat overwhelmed by the swathe of words that pulled and tugged and ripped as his attention. It was disorienting, confusing, but also enlightening in its chaotic way...

Shard...

Tineniel feels a rush of comfort, the tingle of wounds closing, warmth wrapping around him like the warmest of cloaks. He is empowered, inside and out. The colors are numerous, but they are all called 'hope'...

And then he sees a beautiful crystal, snatched out of the sky by... he can't see it, it doesn't make sense. But the cannon was there, the deal was set, their salvation was nigh before they were betrayed!.

A blink, and it's gone. But the emotions aren't.

They will ruin the earth if they get it...

How many times has he heard that? Images, faces, they flash through his mind - A young, snotty-faced noble, a monstrous creature, an arrogant robed mage (or several?), and horrors from only the gods know where. They must be stopped!

...spells...

Tineniel feels the word echo in his brain. It grows louder and louder, a pounding that has no end. Externally, he is impassive and calm - as he is wont to do - but within he is driven mad by the repetition of the word. He remembers the endless nights with the book, the nameless illegible book. He remembers the tingling of the spiral - as it so burns now! He feels the pulsing in his veins, the pulsing in the veins around him, the world's veins... He's so... damn... close...

And then it's gone.

He pauses for several seconds as the strange man tosses his empty, ravaged bowl of soup, merely staring at the fire. "I see," is all he can manage to utter, so low it barely crests above a whisper.

[Jevva]

Well, all I know is that I'm not going across with the boots. Isn't Yuri gonna go over as a bat?

[Fangor the Fierce]

Krysta grabs the boots, dons them, then goes over...

[VemuKhaham]

For a moment Romar reconsiders how much he should tell her of Girud. Imagine if she would actually wish to find him after the inevitable assault in two days time, maybe she would tell him of Romar's appearance in the Dune Palace or his allegiance to the elves of Astoril. But in the end he thought those matters to be of lesser importance than the solace he might find if he would help Telena before he would mercilessly betray her.

"I knew him, because he is one of the most dedicated guards of Ravenshead city. Like me, he volunteered to come to the aid of a besieged fortress at the northern borders of the Blackwing Kingdom. I remember him to be especially loyal, and vengeful towards all who would oppose Ravenshead. The fortress fell, and in the ensuing chaos we were separated, so initially we only met for a few days, though it seems much longer than that in memory.

I met him again a short while ago, by coincidence. We both returned to the city we served at the same time from our travels. As far as I know, he now is a celebrated hero among the people of Ravenshead. I haven't seen him ever since."

[Japic]

{Krysta's got it. Girud will switch weapons so that he's using his returning greatsword. He might have need of a ranged attack.