startling eve by Millimax | World Anvil

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Wolfsday, 2 Sunfall 998 Y.K.

startling eve

by Millimax

 when ander returned to the foyer of the wayfinders' headquarters he had a book that he referenced as he spoke
 here's the really short version
 around ten years back ander met a group of skilled swordplay enthusiasts of a school led by one called "master kohai" – just like spark's mentor! – who told an interesting enough story of the school's founder "isawa sakonoko" and his travels that the wayfinders wanted to retrace his path in the spirit of exploration
 
 when they got to "the island at empire's edge where the shrine of hope's dreaming lie" they found three things
 a sword in a scabbard
 a book of artificer's research including relic's build plan
 and a deactivated relic impaled by a livewood tree that was at least two hundred years old
 in other words they found that relic is prior art and thus absolute proof that house cannith didn't invent the forged but instead borrowed existing research!
 
 they collected what they could and tried to keep sailing but some sort of magical storm corraled them to where they could only head back home
 the catch is that boroman became too sick to work on translating the book and anyhow he would need some more basic text to work from
 when relic left to find his way in the world the wayfinders held onto those items but there was a break-in and the sword and book were stolen along with sakonoko's diary
 
 nobody (including the watch) had any leads on recovering the stuff
 ander wants to try to head back there during autumn provided he can find a way through the magical storm – and convince the board that this is more important than a different expedition they're considering
 but he gave us copies of the map and what notes he still had along with the case number so relic could ask the watch directly
 
 we had some time between that and dinner
 relic and spark talked to the watch but found the case file basically empty and nobody there was especially eager to help out
 i don't understand why anyone would work to be part of the constabulary if they didn't actually want to help with this sort of thing
 but the list of what i don't understand about this side of the hedge could fill a book
 that would get very poor reviews from the critics
 
 while they did that the rest of us visited meledri as promised
 she officially entrusted bell with that already-integrated hammer (whew!)
 then she explained that thrane was looking to arrest raelvan because he'd killed three people in a ritual sacrifice ... and then remained at the scene long enough to be identified and chased off?
 her wife "teles" had been in sharn to track down rumors of "fiends" and that sounded pretty specific so i asked her to define the term
 
 according to meledri fiends are vast primordial evils from beyond the astral plane that were accidentally trapped when the universe was born and they wreaked mass chaos and destruction trying to get back out
 for hundreds of millennia they were the world's apex species but the dragons and couatls paired up to fight back
 the couatls collectively self-sacrificed to banish one of the largest fiends "bel shalor" and the released spirit energy created the silver flame
 
 so that's how those of meledri's faith describe their origin and purpose – fighting evil in all its forms
 over the next æon the silver flame gave the dragons the power to banish most of the fiends and those they couldn't banish were mostly driven to the world's ends ("the demon wastes") or depths ("khyber")
 the ones still loose are the "bleak council" and they want to literally destroy the world and they're actively planning this from their hideout in "ashtakala"
 
 ashtakala – the "city of brass" – is on the northwest coast in the middle of a magical sandstorm that repels or swallows everyone who tries to get through
 except someone saw raelvan enter the sandstorm and come back out a week later like it was a business junket
 so is he a fiend?
 a friend to fiends?
 indifferent to but generally accepting of fiends?
 too inexplicable for even fiends to want to deal with for long?
 meledri intends to find out at his expense
 
 with that on our minds we headed back to have dinner with some of the wayfinders
 it's a little unsettling when a dinner spread includes a roasted animal but the braised vegetables were amazing and medya was fond of the wine (and not just in the way she's fond of all wine)
 after hours of having to focus through the reedpaste haze i was content to listen while others talked
 that was pleasant until relic asked their curator "imré" about the artifacts found with him
 
 zer' used his mindlink to let the team know he'd set up a psychic "zone of truth"
 relic asked several perfectly reasonable questions but imré kept coming up with false answers and when asked why he was lying he responded "because the aurum knows best"
 their accountant "dorein" literally dropped her fork in surprise
 and when imré tried to bolt ander basically pounced and held him at the point of his rapier until he coughed up some more truths
 
 imré had bribed the guard and taken relic's stuff himself!
 he sold the sword and gave the diary to someone else but of course that book with relic's build plans went to d'cannith merrix 1 as a "gift of goodwill"
 if we're lucky it's still there in eston so now we have yet another reason to go back to the greyest place that ever was
 and with this revelation relic dragged imré off to the watch so they could finally add something to that case file
 
 dorein disappeared sometime during all the excitement which ander found suspicious but the (remaining) wayfinders will handle that
 so that was dinner and i think i'm going to get an early night because today's been a long strange one and honestly i just want to clear my head of it
 i'm still feeling that glitterreed and i can afford a night to relax so i think i'll have fun and work up a small sculpture before bed

Continue reading...

  1. look how organized i am also i got knifed today
    Griffinsday, 13 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  2. can't get their face out of my mind
    Griffinsday, 13 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  3. the days are way longer in khorvaire
    Wolfsday, 14 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  4. good medicine
    Wolfsday, 14 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  5. writing this down so i can get some sleep
    Wolfsday, 14 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  6. good morning
    Flamesday, 15 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  7. this motley group
    Flamesday, 15 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  8. errand day one
    Flamesday, 15 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  9. sleep and the self-made pony
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  10. errand day two
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  11. gryphon appreciation day
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  12. wait what now
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  13. that campus map
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  14. they love to overdo everything here
    Bearsday, 16 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  15. qualms
    Crownsday, 17 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  16. message in a dream
    Thronesday, 18 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  17. and points north
    Wolfsday, 20 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  18. breland blue
    Wolfsday, 20 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  19. a modest prophecy
    Wolfsday, 20 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  20. stabbed in the neck by a sunbeam
    Flamesday, 21 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  21. gifts for all
    Bearsday, 22 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  22. zone of twilight
    Crownsday, 23 Seeding, 998 Y.K.
  23. everything and lots of it
    Crownsday, 23 Seeding, 998 Y.K.
  24. counting from zero
    Thronesday, 24 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  25. returns and investments
    Thronesday, 30 Seeding 998 Y.K.
  26. found in translation
    Crownsday, 7 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  27. going with the flow
    Thronesday, 12 Blooming, 998 Y.K.
  28. rescue arrangers
    Thronesday, 12 Blooming, 998 Y.K.
  29. calm but collected
    Griffinsday, 13 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  30. twisting passages
    Wolfsday, 14 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  31. he did it wrong
    Wolfsday, 14 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  32. what works and what doesn't
    Flamesday, 15 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  33. cazha bloodwing only knows one game
    Bearsday, 16 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  34. . . .
    Bearsday, 16 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  35. gravity
    Crownsday, 17 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  36. mistaken
    Wolfsday, 20 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  37. today's the day
    Bearsday, 28 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  38. it worked it worked it worked!
    Bearsday, 28 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  39. so i chatted with another goddess
    Bearsday, 28 Blooming 998 Y.K.
  40. i'm sitting as fast as i can
    Griffinsday, 1 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  41. strange day so far
    Wolfsday, 2 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  42. startling eve
    Wolfsday, 2 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  43. i hope there's coffee because i sure could do with some
    Flamesday, 3 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  44. hard work's reward is more work
    Flamesday, 3 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  45. those who can't do ... steal
    Bearsday, 4 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  46. d'cannith jorlanna throws lousy parties
    Bearsday, 4 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  47. motivations redoubled
    Crownsday, 5 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  48. i learned this from bipeds
    Thronesday, 6 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  49. into the arcane congress
    Thronesday, 6 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  50. oh and there's a killer on the loose
    Griffinsday, 7 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  51. up all night to get published
    Bearsday, 10 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  52. the thanks i get
    Bearsday, 10 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  53. order of operations
    Bearsday, 10 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  54. technically not the worst day of my life
    Bearsday, 10 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  55. fighting our fears
    Crownsday, 11 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  56. i don't like surprises
    Crownsday, 11 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  57. unsettled
    Crownsday, 11 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  58. more unsettled
    Griffinsday, 13 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  59. happy gryphon's day
    Griffinsday, 13 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  60. burning issues
    Bearsday, 16 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  61. it's been a week already?
    Bearsday, 16 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  62. awkward in aundair
    Crownsday, 17 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  63. lab results
    Crownsday, 17 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  64. hard fighting's reward is more fighting
    Crownsday, 17 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  65. forbidden tome
    Thronesday, 18 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  66. heart of flame
    Thronesday, 18 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  67. jorlanna's burden
    Wolfsday, 20 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  68. long distance
    Bearsday, 22 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  69. this week's summery
    Crownsday, 29 Sunfall 998 Y.K.
  70. i'm just a little hoarse
    Griffinsday, 1 Offering 999 Y.K.
  71. outside influence
    Griffinsday, 7 Offering 999 Y.K.
  72. hoofprints
    Flamesday, 9 Offering 999 Y.K.
  73. when it rains it pours
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  74. what did we learn today?
    Crownsday, 11 Offering 999 Y.K.
  75. impressions
    Griffinsday, 13 Offering 999
  76. chilling effect
    Wolfsday, 14 Offering 999 Y.K.
  77. forming a queue
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  78. helpful friends
    Thronesday, 18 Offering 999 Y.K.
  79. being heard
    Thronesday, 18 Offering 999 Y.K.
  80. inside influence
    Wolfsday, 20 Offering 999 Y.K.
  81. this shopping list confuses me
    Bearsday, 22 Offering 999 Y.K.
  82. senseless
    Thronesday, 24 Offering 999 Y.K.
  83. contrast and compare
    Thronesday, 24 Offering 999 Y.K.
  84. digging for rocks
    Wolfsday, 26 Offering 999 Y.K.
  85. well defended
    Flamesday, 28 Offering 999 Y.K.
  86. misrepresentation
    Thronesday, 30 Offering 999 Y.K.
  87. taking it back
    Griffinsday, 1 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  88. facing responsibility
    Wolfsday, 2 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  89. abundance of caution
    Crownsday, 5 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  90. stress tests
    Thronesday, 6 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  91. sykes is making a huge mistake
    Griffinsday, 7 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  92. the difference between silence and quiet
    Flamesday, 9 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  93. noise
    Bearsday, 10 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  94. always use protection
    Thronesday, 12 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  95. into so many pieces
    Griffinsday, 13 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  96. control
    Griffinsday, 13 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  97. composure regained
    Bearsday, 16 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  98. pressure and heat
    Crownsday, 23 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  99. the king is dead
    Thronesday, 24 Reaping 999 Y.K.
  100. all kinds of progress
    Bearsday, 10 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  101. howling intensifies
    Bearsday, 10 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  102. don't call it a setback
    Crownsday, 11 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  103. land of the dead
    Flamesday, 15 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  104. getting on well with the locals
    Crownsday, 17 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  105. just passing through
    Griffinsday, 19 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  106. that's enough i get it stop with the wolves already
    Flamesday, 21 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  107. gathering
    Bearsday, 22 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  108. flavors of karrnath
    Crownsday, 23 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  109. surprises
    Thronesday, 24 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  110. creatures and comforts
    Thronesday, 24 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  111. moving pieces
    Thronesday, 30 Leaffall 999 Y.K.
  112. improvisation
    Griffinsday, 1 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  113. old
    Wolfsday, 2 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  114. bite the sky
    Crownsday, 5 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  115. class roster
    Crownsday, 11 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  116. our visit to fort deepdark
    Griffinsday, 13 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  117. purple waves of grain
    Flamesday, 15 Sowing 999 Y.K
  118. rest
    Crownsday, 17 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  119. the mournland is unpleasant and i'm glad we'll be visiting again
    Thronesday, 18 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  120. d'cannith zorlan makes lousy decisions
    Thronesday, 18 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  121. cold comfort
    Bearsday, 22 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  122. reaching out
    Crownsday, 23 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  123. larger than we appear
    Flamesday, 27 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  124. user serviceable
    Flamesday, 27 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  125. completion's sake
    Bearsday, 28 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  126. flavors of zilargo
    Thronesday, 30 Sowing 999 Y.K.
  127. so glad he doesn't snore
    Griffinsday, 1 Marking 999 Y.K.
  128. closing the distance
    Crownsday, 5 Marking 999 Y.K.
  129. butting heads
    Flamesday, 9 Marking 999 Y.K.
  130. the goats loved it
    Flamesday, 9 Marking 999 Y.K.
  131. marks
    Wolfsday, 14 Marking 999 Y.K.
  132. safety in numbers
    Bearsday, 16 Marking 999 Y.K.
  133. seen
    Crownsday, 17 Marking 999 Y.K.
  134. gut wrenching
    Crownsday, 17 Marking 999 Y.K.
  135. it's still grey
    Griffinsday, 25 Marking 999 Y.K.
  136. warped
    Flamesday, 27 Marking 999 Y.K.
  137. exposed
    Thronesday, 30 Marking 999 Y.K.
  138. company town
    Thronesday, 30 Marking 999 Y.K.
  139. grace notes
    Griffinsday, 1 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  140. disconnected
    Wolfsday, 2 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  141. why won't this place just let us do our thing and leave
    Flamesday, 3 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  142. adding lightness
    Crownsday, 5 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  143. terms and conditions
    Flamesday, 21 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  144. something unexpected
    Thronesday, 24 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  145. four legs good
    Thronesday, 30 Snowfall 999 Y.K.
  146. ander reed knows how to have a good time
    Highnight, 999 Y.K.
  147. dreams coming true
    Bearsday, 4 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  148. dreams uncaught
    Crownsday, 5 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  149. scattered light
    Crownsday, 6 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  150. travel plans
    Griffinsday, 7 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  151. this motley crew
    Flamesday, 9 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  152. sea feast
    Griffinsday, 13 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  153. wrecked
    Bearsday, 16 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  154. digging deeper
    Griffinsday, 19 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  155. family legacy
    Flamesday, 21 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  156. too thick to fail
    Bearsday, 22 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  157. loud and clear
    Bearsday, 22 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  158. paint what you know
    Griffinsday, 25 Frosting 999 Y.K.
  159. she really left her hoofprints all over
    Crownsday, 29 Frosting 999 Y.K.

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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.009 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 19:24, Apr 28 2024