4 - 059: The Fourth Piece

[K Man]

Romar -

Telena's face lightens, her eyes staring solemnly into the fire.



"A great warrior? Dedicated...he sounds just like me..." She shakes her head slightly. "It's hard to believe we both came from the same, nomadic and barbaric giant father..."

She stirs the embers with a nearby log, adding more fuel to the fire.

"Tell me Romar, about King Sturmguard. I've heard his compassion is unequalled...is this true?"

If you had a sore spot, Telena just stabbed with with a blade....

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

Irris and Tineniel -

The man looks to you both, most especially to Irris, smiling at his question 'Who am I'.



"Yes, I know who you are...you both know who you are."

"Your memories are not lost, they have been stolen."

You can feel yourself bordering on either strangling the man for not giving enough information...or begging him to give you more. He smiles knowingly, motioning to the sand beneath his feet.



"You've been to hell, you should remember at least that much."

"While in hell, you lost your memories temporarily and but that was all the time that she needed to take them."

She?...the man is already answering your question.

"Wee Jas, goddess of death. She collects them you see, hides them in an iceberg and takes her time picking out the painful ones for her own morbid desires. It's a huge black wall of ice near her home, covered in the wailing souls that need their memories to go into a proper afterlife."

"It's really quite impress..." He stops when he sees you fuming. "Ahem. The point is that you can get your memories back and I will show you how, but there is no time just yet."

"You must protect that shard, get it to the ocean and see it to a safe place. Try to remember...I gave you the Demonwing. You have a ship, use it."

Another flash...screaming faces...a hero fallen...more twisted bits of who you could have been.

The man stands and dusts off his peasant garb. With each wave of his hand, the garmaments change, becoming brilliant robes of scintillating colors. The mans general appearance becomes awe-inspiring yet wholly confusing in one. He seems to sparkle with energy as he address you one last time.



"Get the shard to the water's edge, find the Demonwing...keep it safe or you'll all die."

"And if you succeed, come see me in my home, we'll get those little head of yours fixed."

And in the blink of an eye, he's gone, leaving nothing but more questions...

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

Everyone in Fortress -

Krysta dons the boots and lifts herself up. She ties a rope about her waist and Girud thrusts her out over the darkened pit with enough force to reach the pillar...

And, as your worst fears expected, she is stopped a little less than halfway out...by something unexpected...

[Attack Roll = 21, you get no DEX mod Vs. Invisible] [Damage Roll = 11] An invisible force of some kind slams into you and sends you reeling from the blow, certainly halting your progress to the pillar.

You look about, you can see nothing but darkness...you all tense for the battle.

[Initiative: Krysta, Girud, Yuri + The Invisible Stalker, Galdren, Alton and Adelia, Mordrock]

Map;

 _________________2_________________
|  _______________#_______________  |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................|R|
| |...............................|T|
| |...............................|D|
| |...............................|M|
1#................*......@@K......#3
| |......................@@.......| |
| |...............................|G|
| |...............................|A|
| |...............................|Y|
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |...............................| |
| |_______________#_______________| |
|_________________4_________________|

[/pre]
<<<Legend>>>

* = Top of Pillar (3ft wide)
# = Top of Staircases, 1-4
...... = Darkened Pit
@@
@@ = Invisible Stalker (50/50)
A = Galdren
G = Girud
M = Mordrock
D = Adelia
T = Alton
K = Krysta
R = Garor
Y = Yuri

__________________________________________________________________________________________

[Fangor the Fierce]

Krysta merely shrugs off the attack, striking at the air that hit her. (Attacking where she got hit, full attack if possible)

+1 Keen Flaming Longsword of Caustic Surge
AttBon +13/+8
dmg 1d8+5 +1d6 Fire
17-20/x2 Slashing

Mordrock, sensing his woman was in need, grabs an arrow and lets it fly in front of Krysta as well, hoping to hit anything that is there.

+8/+8 to hit (Rapid Shot, Point Blank and Precise Shot) 1d4+1dmg


Adelia will act after the others, so she will wait to see what they do...

[VemuKhaham]

It was indeed a sore spot she was prying at, and Romar was silent for a second. Then he said:

"King Sturmguard is indeed a man of great compassion for those who follow his cause and those who live in his city, obedient of the law. He is like a great shepherd to his people, and they adore him for it. When you first meet him, you might think of him as a wise and kind father if not for the royal garb he wears.

But those who oppose him in any way possible should truly fear his vengeance. Loyalty is what he commands from his followers, and those who cannot give it any longer fall from grace as quickly as a statue from its pedestal.

As such I know him. Maybe it is that war turns men into steel, and king Sturmguard has seen to many days of bloodshed. It must be hard to rule over a kingdom under constant threat. I have always tried to help him in this task, rooting out those who have sought to betray him and the kingdom. I have learned not to expect gratitude anymore. Good deeds come with their own reward."

And as such, Romar had carefully portrait his whole relation with his king without mentioning any names or actual events. He then stared at the fire and took some more of the warm soup.

[TheUdjat]

Tineniel had to blink a couple of times while his mind struggled to absorb everything that had just been thrust upon it. This man, clearly, was like Tineniel. Or rather, like whoever Tineniel used to be. He was of magic. He shook his head, struggling with the nebulous responsibility that faced him.

He had to save a shard. A shard that, apparently, was held in the Life-Giving Lake. A shard of what? What did it look like? How big was it? What did it do? Tineniel had no way of knowing, but he felt somewhere deep inside that it must be large, and that he would know it when he saw it. Or perhaps that was simply what he told himself. Maybe it was magic, and maybe it was connected to the Lake - but maybe it was merely being hidden there. At any rate, it was there, and he and Irris were supposed to protect it.

Tineniel looked to Irris. Irris was already watching Tineniel, probably struggling with his own inner thoughts. "This is insane, my friend. We do not know anything about that man, anything about this 'shard' he speaks of, nor really do we have any evidence in front of us to validate that the conversation actually happened. Perhaps the heat has gotten to us. I do not even know how we would protect the shard. Or what we're to protect it from! And most of all, I certainly don't know what the Demonwing-"

A skeletal face appeared in Tineniel's head, blocking out all else for a solid moment. When it vanished, he could not even remember what it had looked like. And there were others, so many others - all on a boat. And he knew, somehow, that within its dark hold the boat was fathomless, incomprehensibly big. There were somewhere, somewhere bad, and something equally bad was afoot. And in a second, the whole vision faded, leaving only vague impressions of the whole.

"...The Demonwing." He knew it. He did not know what he knew, but it was familiar. He knew, when the time came, he would know how to find it. No, how to call it. "Irris, there is much that we do not know. But this man knows what we do not, and I feel that is enough to go on. My body, my reactions... In my core, I am not resistent to this course of action. I think... I think that we should do what we can. Tonight. Immediately. We should find one of the council." And at that he stands, rolling his sketches away and tucking them into one of the scrollcases he had been found with. "Are you with me?"

[Jevva]

"Krysta, are you okay?" Galdren looks at his swords, and curses. He think so fdrawing his bow, but then realizes that it wouldn't be a good idea to fire with Krysta there, and a worse idea yet when he can't see what he's trying to hit. Instead, he ends up standing in the same spot, furious at his inability to help Krysta.

[Wizard]

"Insane? Of course it is! But then...so are we, by any definition that makes sense."

Callian closed his eyes and rolled backwards, lying down.

Eyes still closed, he spoke. "I can quote, by memory, about half the tax statutes of the Renam subdivision of a forgotten province. I know which parts of the body require immediate staunching when wounded, and which can be left to heal by themselves. And I know how to guide a horse so as to best avoid arrow fire from above or straight ahead, even though I haven't seen a horse since we got here."

He sat up, and opened his eyes, staring into the fire. "How do I know these things? I have no idea. Maybe I learned them in my past life. Maybe I have always known them. But I think---I believe---that I know them for a reason. Why else should we have been saved as we were? You've been on the patrols. You know the odds of us having been found. They were infinitesimal. We should have died, the both of us."

"And yet we did not. So many 'and yets.' We shouldn't have been found---and yet we were. Irrkin didn't have enough water to keep us both alive---and yet you didn't, and don't, seem to need any, ever. I haven't the faintest idea why all this should seem right to you---and yet it does to me as well. The world is full of strong and good men and women---men and women with full memories, who might do a better job of protecting this important shard---and yet we were chosen, two amnesiacs in the desert. All these 'and yets.' By all rights, we should be bleached bones on the sand--and yet we are not. I cannot help but think that this is not an accident---we were chosen, by what power I do not know. But it remains that we were."

At this Irris stands, turning his eyes from the fire to the bright---unsettlingly so, to some here---green eyes of his friend.

"So when you ask me, Tineniel, lost one, if I am 'with you'---well, then I answer that I am with you until the Lake runs dry, and the gods abandon men, and the End of Things comes---and beyond all these, while there is yet breath in my body."

* * *

The pair made their way to the Council fire, near the center of the encampment. And then, upon approach, to Erid, who had, for a time, been a student of both, before his ascent to the Council.

"Councilman...may we request an audience?"

Tineniel considered carefully before speaking. It would be difficult to give enough information to galvanize the Council to action, while meanwhile hiding enough to avoid looking insane or heat-addled. "We have reason to believe that the shard in the Life-Giving Lake---don't look at us so, we know about the shard---will soon be stolen. Within the next two days or so. We ask permission to guard it, and urge the Council to consider moving it or hiding it, for its protection."

Tineniel finished somewhat breathlessly (a fact which displeased him...he had come off more excited than he'd wished), and looked at Erid, waiting for a reaction.

[Japic]

Somewhat startled by the sudden attacks on Krysta, Girud fights the urge to yank her back by the rope. If there was an invisible foe out there, we might have a tough time finding it again. He will let her choose, since it’s her tail on the line.

”Krysta, should I pull you back?” (counts as full withdrawl for her?)

Readied action to either pull her back (on yes) or heave my weapon out there to whack the invisible something (on no).

{Ranged +10 2d6+9 dam (19-20x2), 2d6 dam to chaotic, bypass lawful DR}

---

Seeing Krysta attack, Alton does the same. No reason for her to fight this thing alone.

{Ranged +8, 1d4+1 dam}

[Fangor the Fierce]

Hearing the warrior asking to pull her out of this combat or to keep here in, Krysta's mind whirls with the possibilities. They had to get past this thing blocking them, or else they were getting no further. If that meant she had to take this thing down, then so be it, as long as the others continued and defeated the Master.

"Regroup!" she calls out, hoping that the warrior can pull her out fast enough. Luckily, she would still get her attacks in before the thing had it's chance to retaliate. Even so, when the warrior pulls her back, she will let the momentum build, as she twirls into a spinning backflip, trying to dodge out of this things reach. (Tumble +8 to avoid AoO's)

Hopefully, with the knowledge that there is indeed something out here blcking their path, the others may find a way to aid her. If not, then it would surely be one tough battle...