The Sylvan Realm #10 (#54)

[GM Mad]

Sylvan Realm #10

Still November 28th, CR 571 or Deepnight 22nd, 20,519 AP

Night has fallen and the elves day in the ancient ruins of the Elders is coming to a close. Lilia and Valena, along with several of the rescued elves and bodies of the deceased have returned to the building to the south where the rocs are waiting to carry everyone back to the Sylvan Realm. The Queen of the Sylvan Realm speaks to the elves.

“Chandra deceived you and he paid a heavy price,” Lilia will tell the group in a even tone. “He acted alone and without mine or the councils permission. The mission of my friends and myself was to save as many of you as possible, but it seems that we lost many good elves. Tomorrow Valena will lead you back to the Mother Tree. I'll join you there in a day or two. For now, our primary responsibility is to protect the Mother Tree until reinforcements arrive. There are simply too few of us to be away from her for too long. Rest now and in a few days you will all be home.”

“What happened to those insects?” a male elf that you are unfamiliar with asks. “What did they do to Chandra?”

The elf in plate mail that you met earlier in the day, Andlin Alastra, speaks up. “Is there anything else we can do, Your Majesty? Are you going on some sort of mission? You should not be putting yourself in danger without bodyguards. I would volunteer to accompany you on this mission and keep you safe!”

None of the other elves really have anything to add. Most are exhausted and more than a few are ready for sleep.


Back at the tall tower, the Heroes of the Mother Tree and their guests, Argent and the scro woman known as Myev, are settling in for the evening. Kylie works on making a stew, assisted by Argent.

Talen pesters them, but occasionally his attention is diverted. He looks out to the north of the tall tower and has the feeling that something is calling him. He thought he heard something before, but all the running and fighting made it easy to ignore. But now that things are quiet, it's more noticeable.

Lia stores her gear for the evening and looks around the suite of rooms. Its clear that the orcs used this as living quarters. There are bedrolls present and the usual items associated with living areas. It does seem messier and the quality of goods is less than those back in Lost Valley. These orcs seem to be 'roughing it'.

Laucian looks around figuring out how to roost the griffons for the evening. Since they are warm blooded creatures, they need to be kept warm during the otherwise cold night. The balcony for each suite is large enough to hold a griffon comfortably. The opening into the tower from the balcony is also large enough for a griffon to pass through so it can be used as well. The other openings from this chamber are too small for a griffon to pass through. Three suites will be needed to house the six griffons.

While that is going on, Lia talks to Myev about her future.

After her discussion with Talen Lia will seek out Myev, “Do you have a moment?” she asks curiously.

“I seem to have many moments now,” Myev answers in elfish. Given what had just happened to her, how her own people struck her and the elves eliminated the male scro in a matter of moments, Myev is a bit shell-shocked.

Lia sits near Myev and looks to the orc. “I am sorry for the way you were treated earlier. You did not deserve such.” Her lavender eyes showing empathy.

“It's they way they always treated me,” Myev shrugs. “It was normal.”

“Have you given thought to what you want to do? Stay with the orcs? See the world? Perhaps see where I am from? There are many enlightened individuals there from many walks of life and races. For what it is worth, I see good in you. I would not want to see you harmed or used as you have been.”

“I have daydreamed about being able to go and study whatever interests me,” Myev admits. “But now that I seem to have that chance, I am unsure what to do. I'd rather not go back to my own people nor do I think I could live among what you call orcs. They are far to primitive for my tastes, their eyes closed to the world around them. I admit that I am interested in elvish history, but given that I am their enemy, I doubt that I will be able to stay with them. I don't know what will become of me.”

“I do have a question,” Myev asks of Lia. “What kind of elf are you? I have never seen one such as you before. And the tall boy elf. While he does look like an elf, he also does note. Can you explain this?”


After dinner has been consumed, the group starts to settle in for the night. Argent asks Kylie to stand guard for her while she goes into a side chamber so that she can get cleaned up after her long captivity. The Invoker works on cleaning herself up and removing bodily odors. Then she turns attention to her long and messy hair. She tries to comb it out, but finds that it won't cooperate. This goes on for a while until Kylie is startled to hear a wail of utter despair come out of the side room.

Rushing inside, Kylie finds Argent curled up on the floor sobbing hysterically. All around her on the floor are parts of her hair that had been chopped off. Argent's hair has been cut very short and in doing so the full weight of what she's endured these last six weeks come crashing down on her. The Invoker, normally so self-assured and confident, seems broken.

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

XP's have been updated in the private area on the Roster Page. You know the drill by now.

I am able to upload web pages once more, so I uploaded some of the World of Cynalon Reference material that had been on the Champions Website. Things such as the world map, several other maps, the rules for making characters, and other character creation data can now be reached from the entry page.

I've also tweaked the coding on some of the pages. Made it so that the Roster page centers like it used to and so on. Made some changes to the appearance of the Character Sheets themselves. I also move Nariya to the NPC section of the Rosters and added this version of Argent.


Hit Points:

Lia 46 of 60
Lilia 67 of 71
Talen 49 of 52

Spell Activity:

Argent has 25 spell points left and has cast 1 1st level spell.

Lilia has 44 Mage Spell Points left and has cast 2 1st level spell, 1 2nd level spell, 6 3rd level spells and 1 4th level spell thus far. She also has 34 Priest Spell Points left and has cast 1 1st level spell.

Talen has 8 Spell Points remaining and has cast 1 first level spell and 1 second level spell thus far.

Valena has 34 Spell Points remaining and has cast 1 first level spell thus far.

Now what?

[Lilia]

Lilia:

“It's all in my head right now,” Argent responds. “I'll feel better to get it all down on paper.”

“Perhaps later on I can assist in this matter,” Lilia offers. “I am a trained scribe.”

Kylie nods in agreement as the queen talks. Much of what she says reflects Kylie's own thoughts. "I will be happy to discuss it with Argent, if someone else will handle talking with Myev. I certainly don't mind staying on the ship with them while you report in to the Mother Tree, if they are still with us at that time. Do you think there would be any objection to Argent - and possibly Myev as well - spending some time in the area where we intend to set up the half-elven homestead? There is much to do in order to make that a reality, and I would welcome their help if they are willing and Talen and Lia agree."

“Thank you, Kylie,” Lilia says in regards to her speaking to Argent and the possibility of staying with the ship once its moved to the Sylvan Realm.

“I myself don't see a problem with using your homestead as a place were other friendly non-elves can gather,' Lilia states. “Indeed, I was going to pitch it to the rest of the council as being the equivalent of Alfheim City here in the Sylvan Realm. A place where non-elves can come and trade, other nations have diplomats and so on. It was a place to start and we can see where it grows from there. Setting up a teleportation tower there so that we and those in Cynalon could use it for mage travel would be a necessity.”

“I'm sure that grandma wouldn't mind,” Talen says. “But you do make a valid point. I'm sure that she would take them in. The problem may be having enough food and supplies to care for everyone.”

“At some point, assuming that we have the ability to travel the great distance back to Cynalon with ease, we will have to visit Nightmist once more and get her perspective on the sort of things we are discussing,” Lilia adds. “If she is as powerful as we suspect, we could give her the teleportation location here in the Sylvan Realm. Then we could negotiate how many beings she can care for and what kind of supplies she would need.”

“I don't mind,” Talen says. “Where I grew up we had nice orcs around, so it's not strange to me. Lia has talked to Myev a few times. I'll ask her to speak to Myev about this.”

“Thank you, Talen,” Lilia says.

“Perhaps, put a fireball into the ship is not a welcome I wish to receive.”

“Agreed,” Lilia responds.

Once back with the other elves, Lilia speaks to them in a neutral tone.

“What happened to those insects?” a male elf that you are unfamiliar with asks. “What did they do to Chandra?”

“We believe that they have been destroyed for now,” Lilia explains. “Chandra was infected by one of the parasites and through it the Hive learned about the Sylvan Realm and the Mother Tree. The Hive covets our home for their own nefarious needs. The ceiling of the chamber the Hive arrived in was unstable and we managed to collapse it. I am confident that all the Hive were crushed underneath it. But we must remain vigilant against this threat.”

The elf in plate mail that you met earlier in the day, Andlin Alastra, speaks up. “Is there anything else we can do, Your Majesty? Are you going on some sort of mission? You should not be putting yourself in danger without bodyguards. I would volunteer to accompany you on this mission and keep you safe!”

Lilia regards the armored elf for a moment. In spite of being an elf, he acts very much like a human knight. The elf maiden cannot decide if that is a good thing or not. Still, she promised herself to be honest with the other elves in her dealings. In her mind little lies just lead to big lies and distrust.

“Yes, we are going on a small mission,” Lilia will finally say. “We have learned that the ship docked in the harbor is magical flying ship, much like the way we arrived here in the Sylvan Realm. The orcs on it call themselves the scro and they are more advanced then other orcs. But they are just as savage. The Hive also know about this ship. So, it is my contention to capture this ship and return it to the Sylvan Realm to keep it out of enemy hands, be it Hive, orc or scro. Come the morning, we will capture the ship and fly it back to the Sylvan Realm. Its my plan to dock it by the Elfin Palace and then return to the Mother Tree.”

Turning her attention towards Andlin, Lilia adds, “With Valena leading the rest of the elves back home, we could use another sword. Very well, Andlin, you may return to the Tall Tower with me.”

Afterwards, Lilia rides a griffon back to the Tall Tower with Valena and Andlin. The rest of the elves and the honored dead then return to the roc building. Once they are off, Lilia will speak to Andlin again.

“There are more details that you need to be aware of,” Lilia tells the armored elf. “We found two survivors among the orcs and hive. One is a human sorceress that is known, in varying degrees, to us by the name of Argent. She was held captive by the scro for many weeks. It is believed that her gear is on the ship we will be capturing in the morning.”

“Secondly there is a female scro among us called Myev. She helped keep Argent alive during her captivity and is unlike any orc that I've crossed before. For now she is our guest and should be treated as such until proven otherwise. We'll have two guards active at all times over night. Otherwise rest and be ready to move out in the morning.”

Lilia can see that Kylie made some stew for the half-elves and their guests. Lilia is content to nibble on her nuts and fruits as she relaxes. When the sorrowful cry is heard from Argent, Lilia will go to investigate, but upon seeing what is going on, will let Kylie comfort her friend. Clearly the strain of what she endured was too much to bear. Lilia will wait outside the chamber for Kylie to come out.

“Is there anything we can do?” Lilia will ask Kylie when she emerges from the chamber. “How can we help?”

[Kylie]

Kylie:

“I don't mind,” Talen says. “Where I grew up we had nice orcs around, so it's not strange to me. Lia has talked to Myev a few times. I'll ask her to speak to Myev about this.”

“Thank you, Kylie,” Lilia says in regards to her speaking to Argent and the possibility of staying with the ship once its moved to the Sylvan Realm.

“I myself don't see a problem with using your homestead as a place were other friendly non-elves can gather,' Lilia states. “Indeed, I was going to pitch it to the rest of the council as being the equivalent of Alfheim City here in the Sylvan Realm. A place where non-elves can come and trade, other nations have diplomats and so on. It was a place to start and we can see where it grows from there. Setting up a teleportation tower there so that we and those in Cynalon could use it for mage travel would be a necessity.”

"That's an interesting idea, Lilia. As part of two peoples already, we half-elves may be well suited to such a role," Kylie says, her mind swirling with ideas. "I have no idea how to set up one of these teleportation towers that you mentioned, but I suspect you know someone who does."

“At some point, assuming that we have the ability to travel the great distance back to Cynalon with ease, we will have to visit Nightmist once more and get her perspective on the sort of things we are discussing,” Lilia adds. “If she is as powerful as we suspect, we could give her the teleportation location here in the Sylvan Realm. Then we could negotiate how many beings she can care for and what kind of supplies she would need.”

"Hopefully, I'll be figuring out that Teleportation spell soon, and that along with the teleportation location notes that Sherwood gave me may help in getting started with this idea."

Later when Kylie starts cooking, Talen will linger as he's more then ready to eat something hardy!

“Is it done yet?” he asks too many times.

Kylie laughs. "You know, it will be done sooner if you help. There's some corn over there that needs to be husked," she says, pointing her ladle at the pile.

Later on, Lia smells something good cooking and Lia nears Kylie and Argent and Talen. "What's for dinner?" she asks as she pops some nuts and dried fruit in her mouth and begins to chew it.

"Oh hi, Lia," Kylie says, looking up from a pot. "This rabbit stew is just about ready, and the corn-on-the-cob should be ready in a few minutes as well. There's also some fruit and some nuts around here somewhere."

After dinner has been consumed, the group starts to settle in for the night. Argent asks Kylie to stand guard for her while she goes into a side chamber so that she can get cleaned up after her long captivity. The Invoker works on cleaning herself up and removing bodily odors. Then she turns attention to her long and messy hair. She tries to comb it out, but finds that it won't cooperate. This goes on for a while until Kylie is startled to hear a wail of utter despair come out of the side room.

Rushing inside, Kylie finds Argent curled up on the floor sobbing hysterically. All around her on the floor are parts of her hair that had been chopped off. Argent's hair has been cut very short and in doing so the full weight of what she's endured these last six weeks come crashing down on her. The Invoker, normally so self-assured and confident, seems broken.

Kylie is busy thinking about how to broach the question of future path with Argent when a horrified cry arises from the room beyond. Thinking that perhaps Argent is being attached by some creature, Kylie whips out her sword as she races inside. Seeing Argent huddled on the floor, Kylie drops the sword and races over to kneel at her friend's side. "Argent? Are you okay? How can I help?" she asks, placing her hand gently on Argent's shoulder.

[Argent]

Argent:

“Perhaps later on I can assist in this matter,” Lilia offers. “I am a trained scribe.”

“Thank you for the offer,” Argent says, “but I've had scribe training as well.”

"Thank you, Argent; that means a lot coming from you." Kylie pauses for a moment, trying to figure out how to tell such a long story in such a short time. "Receiving that mission was the primary motivation for coming here. Personally, I also hoped to find my mother, as the elven king told me that she had been sent on an earlier attempt.”

“Wait,” Argent interrupts. “You said that your mother was sick when she left you and your father. Did you find her?”

"As for getting here, we flew on a barge that had a spell engine of a similar sort to the one on the ship over there. The barge belongs to Lord Sharadin, I think, and Sherwood helped us fly it. Once several of us learned how, we flew pretty much night and day in shifts. The barge was very fast."

“That's amazing! To be able to travel so far and fast, and take stuff with you! I simply must get one of these ships!”

"I know, and I understand," Kylie says with chagrin. "We can figure out a way that you don't need to fly on one."

“I can always put a Fly spell on myself,” Argent offers. “It may not be as fast as your griffons, but its faster than walking.”

"Sure, I think we all could." Kylie will show Argent her magical book full of food as well as the other supplies. "If you think of anything you particularly want in addition to what I'm already making, we can give it a try.

“What is this?” Argent asks as she accepts the book. She opens the page to find that it somehow holds strawberries that you can reach into the page and pull out! “Incredible! And tasty!”

"By the way, can you hand chop up those onions?" she asks, pointing as she stirs the pot of stew.

“Sure thing.” Argent casts a cantrip that allows her to cut the onion using only her hands.

Argent is nearly drooling by the time the stew is ready to be eaten. Its been so long since she's hard what she'd consider real food.

“Oh my goodness!” Argent says upon taking a bit. “Given the horrid things I've eaten since I've been stuck up here, this is just heavenly!”

"Certainly! I could stand to clean up a bit myself, so perhaps we can take turns."

“Okay,” Argent agrees as she goes into the chamber and starts to work on her personal hygiene.

The cleaning is long over due and her personal appearance was always something that Argent prided herself on. Its probably a good thing that she doesn't have a mirror handy right now. Her clothes, mostly rags now, are removed and she washes herself by using cantrips.

That task complete she moves on to her hair. Once more she uses a cantrip to make her hands work like a comb in her hair. However it is so tangled and matted that its almost impossible to brush out. Her hair has gone unattended for so long that it's just rats nest now! Anger and frustration rising in her, Argent simply chooses to cut the offending hair off! She's stunned to see the hair simply laying on the floor. The Invoker lets out a wail of despair and collapses to the floor. All the anguish from her weeks of captivity come rushing out in hysterical sobs.

Kylie is busy thinking about how to broach the question of future path with Argent when a horrified cry arises from the room beyond. Thinking that perhaps Argent is being attached by some creature, Kylie whips out her sword as she races inside. Seeing Argent huddled on the floor, Kylie drops the sword and races over to kneel at her friend's side. "Argent? Are you okay? How can I help?" she asks, placing her hand gently on Argent's shoulder.

“I couldn't do anything with it...” Argent sobs. “It was too tangled...”

Once she's more in control of herself, Argent will tell Kylie, “I want to go home.”

[Talen]

Talen:

“At some point, assuming that we have the ability to travel the great distance back to Cynalon with ease, we will have to visit Nightmist once more and get her perspective on the sort of things we are discussing,” Lilia adds. “If she is as powerful as we suspect, we could give her the teleportation location here in the Sylvan Realm. Then we could negotiate how many beings she can care for and what kind of supplies she would need.”

“That sounds promising,” Talen agrees. “I have no problem helping grandma in her good works.”

Seeing her brother look slightly confused, Lia can’t help but smile at her brother. “What is it?”she asks seeing the slightly confused look on his face. “I haven’t seen a look like that since the orc girl seemed to like you…” she says with a smile as she raises from a messy area.

“I thought I heard something,” Talen will finally say. “Far off in the distance. Wait, what orc girl?”

“I can try.” She says evenly answering her brother’s question. “Perhaps Nightmist would take her in, but with a whole world opened before you would you really wish to be home again.” She asks him curiously.

“Me?” Talen says in surprise. “No, I'm not ready to go home just yet, but visiting it might be nice. There's a lot to see, but sometimes you just need to go home.”

“How are you and Kylie?” she asks curiously, trying not to embarrass her brother to much. “You seem to be getting along,”trying to find the right word, “closely.”

“We're friends,” Talen answers in a combination of surprise and a bit distracted by the distant noise. “Why did you hear something?”

Kylie laughs. "You know, it will be done sooner if you help. There's some corn over there that needs to be husked," she says, pointing her ladle at the pile.

“Yes, ma'am,” Talen says while looking at the corn. He picks I up and takes it out to one of the north facing balconies. While he works, Talen tries to ascertain just where the noise is coming from. The general direction. It may be something to investigate come the morning.

Talen is surprised when the armored elf returns with Lilia, but makes no issue of it. He's further surprised when something appears to happen to Argent, but will let the girls deal with whatever that is. Unless he is called specifically, Talen minds his own business.

[Lia]

Lia

“I thought I heard something,” Talen will finally say. “Far off in the distance. Wait, what orc girl?”

Lia looks to her brother quizzically at the notion of hearing something far off. “Are you okay?” she asks as he comes back to the orc girl. She laughs for a moment then shakes her head slightly. “I guess you didn’t notice.” She says evenly.

“Me?” Talen says in surprise. “No, I'm not ready to go home just yet, but visiting it might be nice. There's a lot to see, but sometimes you just need to go home.”

“I was speaking of Myev, not us.” she says with a smirk, “although, a lot has changed in such a short time. I wonder what Nightmist would say if she saw us now.”

“We're friends,” Talen answers in a combination of surprise and a bit distracted by the distant noise. “Why did you hear something?”

Lia looks at her brother mirth in her lavender eyes, “Talen for someone as smart as you sometimes you don’t see what is right near your face. No, I “didn’t hear anything but I have eyes. I think Kylie likes you.”she says.

"Oh hi, Lia," Kylie says, looking up from a pot. "This rabbit stew is just about ready, and the corn-on-the-cob should be ready in a few minutes as well. There's also some fruit and some nuts around here somewhere."

“Stew sounds so good right now.”she says as her stomach rumbles.

Lilia can see that Kylie made some stew for the half-elves and their guests. Lilia is content to nibble on her nuts and fruits as she relaxes.

Lia sees Lilia and a iron clad elf which causes Lia to crane her neck for a moment. Excusing herself from the others. “Welcome back, Lilia. Who is your friend?”

Hearing Argent’s cry, Lia follows Kylie her blade drawn only to find Arget laying on the ground her hair about her. Lia’s heart sinks as Kylie goes to her side, it is then that she notices just how ragged her clothes are. Leaving the room Lia goes to her pack and burrows through her belongings, finding clothes that she doesn’t need. Or at least someone needs more than her.

Moving back to the room, Lia silently approaches the invoker and speaks softly. “I know it is not much, but I want you to have these.” Handing the spare clothes.

Lia sits with Myev,

“It's they way they always treated me,” Myev shrugs. “It was normal.”

“You’ll find that not everyone will treat you as they have. Some better some worse.” Let us hope it is the former.”

“I have daydreamed about being able to go and study whatever interests me,” Myev admits. “But now that I seem to have that chance, I am unsure what to do. I'd rather not go back to my own people nor do I think I could live among what you call orcs. They are far to primitive for my tastes, their eyes closed to the world around them. I admit that I am interested in elvish history, but given that I am their enemy, I doubt that I will be able to stay with them. I don't know what will become of me.”

“I do have a question,” Myev asks of Lia. “What kind of elf are you? I have never seen one such as you before. And the tall boy elf. While he does look like an elf, he also does note. Can you explain this?”

“May I make a suggestion? Where I am from, The Lost Valley, is a community of good hearted races who are misunderstood and wish to be free. My grandmother helped find this settlement and welcome those who are lost, seeking freedom and kinship. While it may not be exactly what you are looking for it may be a good place to start and it is a safe one.

“I am a half...”catching herself as she pushes her silver hair back and puts it in a ponytail. “Forgive me. Elves with skin such as mine are known as Drow. They are of the underdark and are feared and hated where ever they are encountered. Many do not survive meeting my race of elves, for they are usually killed or worse enslaved. But there are those of Drow that are good at heart and seek to prove themselves good and seek to redeem their race.”

“My brother, Talen is what is known as a half elf. One of mixed heritage. Human like Argent and Drow blood. Kylie is also known as a half elf. It is said that when one looks at a half elf they see both races, though many see one parentage over the other.”

When Lia has a moment she will go to a balcony and look out at the night sky. She will silently pray to her patron and begin to dance in prayer.

[Kylie]

Kylie:

“Wait,” Argent interrupts. “You said that your mother was sick when she left you and your father. Did you find her?”

Kylie pauses for a moment, working through her emotion and considering her words. "When we were given the task to try to restore the Mother Tree, the elven king in the Elfholds admitted that my mother had not been sick, but had been part of the previous group sent on the same mission. They, like the group before them, had tried to use a magical pathway known as the Rainbow Bridge to reach the Sylvan Realm. What no one knew, was that the receiving platform on this end had been damaged and was not functioning. Thus, both groups were stranded inside the Rainbow Bridge for years. When we saved the Mother Tree, we also restored the receiving platform, which released all those stranded travelers - including my mother. I've been trying to spend as much time with her as I can ever since."

“That's amazing! To be able to travel so far and fast, and take stuff with you! I simply must get one of these ships!”

Kylie chuckles with amusement, knowing her friend's penchant for gathering wondrous things. "Well, I'm not sure there are that many of them, but it sounds like the ship we'll be snatching from the scro tomorrow is of the same type. At the very least, you should get a chance to ride in it and perhaps learn to fly it as well."

“I can always put a Fly spell on myself,” Argent offers. “It may not be as fast as your griffons, but its faster than walking.”

"And I might be able to carry you part of the way as well if your spell doesn't last the full trip, though I haven't tried to carry a full-grown adult yet."

“What is this?” Argent asks as she accepts the book. She opens the page to find that it somehow holds strawberries that you can reach into the page and pull out! “Incredible! And tasty!”

"Yeah, I like it too," Kylie says with a laugh. "It's not doing any favors for my waistline, though!"

“Yes, ma'am,” Talen says while looking at the corn. He picks I up and takes it out to one of the north facing balconies.

A small smile steals across Kylie's face as Talen sets to work.

“Oh my goodness!” Argent says upon taking a bit. “Given the horrid things I've eaten since I've been stuck up here, this is just heavenly!”

"Thank you," Kylie replies, beaming at the compliment. "All those years of cooking for my Dad paid off."

“Stew sounds so good right now.”she says as her stomach rumbles.

"I hope it tastes as good as it sounds," Kylie replies with a grin. "I normally bake bread to go with stew, but didn't have have all the necessary ingredients." Kylie shrugs, then returns to stirring.

“I couldn't do anything with it...” Argent sobs. “It was too tangled...”

Kylie sees the anguish in her friend's eyes. "I'm so sorry, Argent," she says, wrapping her arms around her friend. "You've had a horrifying 6 weeks, and I am so proud of you for making it through. You are an incredibly strong woman. And don't you worry, we'll get you cleaned up and looking your best in no time."

Moving back to the room, Lia silently approaches the invoker and speaks softly. “I know it is not much, but I want you to have these.” Handing the spare clothes.

Hearing a sound nearby, Kylie sees Lia approaching, and adjusts her position so that the dark elf can approach Argent with her gift of clothing. "That is so kind, Lia. Thank you."

Once she's more in control of herself, Argent will tell Kylie, “I want to go home.”

"I understand," Kylie replies softly. "It shouldn't be long before I learn Teleport, and then I will take you home myself. So many people will be thrilled to see you again."

“Is there anything we can do?” Lilia will ask Kylie when she emerges from the chamber. “How can we help?”

As Argent relaxes and regains control of her emotions, Kylie rises to check in with the rest of the group, knowing that they may be alarmed. Stepping out, she encounters the queen. "Argent has been through a terrible ordeal these past weeks, and just needs time and love to recover. Kindness and understanding are likely the best things that we all can do for her right now.

"Also, appearance is very important to Argent. If anyone has any skill at grooming hair, doing makeup and such, it will help her feel like herself again."

Eventually, Argent drifts off to sleep, and Kylie sets up her bed in the same room. She too drifts off quickly, as it has been a long and eventful day.

Deep in the wee hours of the night, Kylie jolts awake. "I have it!" she exclaims. Digging her spell-book, quill and some writing ink from her pack, she sets to work transcribing the spell she just figured out in her sleep. Once she is satisfied that it is recorded perfectly, she spends time memorizing the spell for use, and restoring her other spells for the morrow.

[Lilia]

Lilia:

"That's an interesting idea, Lilia. As part of two peoples already, we half-elves may be well suited to such a role," Kylie says, her mind swirling with ideas. "I have no idea how to set up one of these teleportation towers that you mentioned, but I suspect you know someone who does."

“It makes sense,” Lilia agrees. “No, I don't know how to make a teleportation tower. I am only going by the things Sherwood Elf-friend stated in regards to teleporting. He said that distance is not a factor, but rather knowledge of your arrival point. There is also the danger of arriving too high or too low. The teleportation tower solves these problems. Jallarzi has one on her estate.”

"Hopefully, I'll be figuring out that Teleportation spell soon, and that along with the teleportation location notes that Sherwood gave me may help in getting started with this idea."

“One of us will learn it soon enough,” Lilia answers. “Admittedly, I've been more focused on my increasing my skill with my priestly duties than acquiring mage knowledge. But still, it will be exciting to learn more powerful spells.”

“Thank you for the offer,” Argent says, “but I've had scribe training as well.”

Lilia nods her understanding. “I should have realized that. Its a common skill for scholars.”

Lia sees Lilia and a iron clad elf which causes Lia to crane her neck for a moment. Excusing herself from the others. “Welcome back, Lilia. Who is your friend?”

“Well met, Lia,” Lilia responds. “Everyone, this is Andlin Alastra. He was one of the elves we rescued on the roc building. He seems to be believe that the Queen of the Sylvan Realm needs a bodyguard. Since Valena is off on her own assignment, I figured an extra sword arm would come in handy. It solves two problems.”

As Argent relaxes and regains control of her emotions, Kylie rises to check in with the rest of the group, knowing that they may be alarmed. Stepping out, she encounters the queen. "Argent has been through a terrible ordeal these past weeks, and just needs time and love to recover. Kindness and understanding are likely the best things that we all can do for her right now.

“Of course,” Lilia says. “Its very understandable. I don't know if I could have lived through what she endured.”

"Also, appearance is very important to Argent. If anyone has any skill at grooming hair, doing makeup and such, it will help her feel like herself again."

“From what I've seen,” Lilia states, “Argent is already more skilled in grooming herself then any of us are. I never put much stock in such things, but I suppose that given my new status a more stately appearance might be required. I might need to take some lessons from her.”

After a moment's thought, Lilia fishes through her backpack and pulls out a small mirror. “This should help her with her appearance.”

Since Argent and Kylie seem to be sharing the chamber, Lilia will suggest to Lia that they join them. Perhaps having so many around her while help set Argent's mind at ease for the night to come. If she feels like talking, Lilia will happily discuss what she knows about these Elder Ruins. If not, Lilia will try to join the conversation as best she can.

[Argent]

Argent:

Kylie pauses for a moment, working through her emotion and considering her words. "When we were given the task to try to restore the Mother Tree, the elven king in the Elfholds admitted that my mother had not been sick, but had been part of the previous group sent on the same mission. They, like the group before them, had tried to use a magical pathway known as the Rainbow Bridge to reach the Sylvan Realm. What no one knew, was that the receiving platform on this end had been damaged and was not functioning. Thus, both groups were stranded inside the Rainbow Bridge for years. When we saved the Mother Tree, we also restored the receiving platform, which released all those stranded travelers - including my mother. I've been trying to spend as much time with her as I can ever since."

“That's wonderful!” Argent beams. “I know how much you missed your mother, so to find her again is a blessing. Admittedly I've given many thoughts to my family as of late. There were times that I believed that I would never see them again. I promised myself when I started out on this journey, that I wouldn't go home until I was successful. I was afraid that they would talk me out of being a mage. What a stupid fool I was. Family is so important. Sometimes its all we have.”

Kylie chuckles with amusement, knowing her friend's penchant for gathering wondrous things. "Well, I'm not sure there are that many of them, but it sounds like the ship we'll be snatching from the scro tomorrow is of the same type. At the very least, you should get a chance to ride in it and perhaps learn to fly it as well."

“That would be fun,” Argent agrees.

"And I might be able to carry you part of the way as well if your spell doesn't last the full trip, though I haven't tried to carry a full-grown adult yet."

“Someone would have to cast it on me,” Argent explains. “I don't have my spell book handy and I don't know it well enough yet to cast it on the fly. I assume that my spellbook is with my gear down on the ship. I wouldn't worry about me being too heavy, I've lost weight up here.”

"Yeah, I like it too," Kylie says with a laugh. "It's not doing any favors for my waistline, though!"

“Maybe I'll be able to fill myself back out again.”

"Thank you," Kylie replies, beaming at the compliment. "All those years of cooking for my Dad paid off."

“And the hours we spent in Jallarzi's kitchen,” Argent adds.

Kylie sees the anguish in her friend's eyes. "I'm so sorry, Argent," she says, wrapping her arms around her friend. "You've had a horrifying 6 weeks, and I am so proud of you for making it through. You are an incredibly strong woman. And don't you worry, we'll get you cleaned up and looking your best in no time."

Argent is half aware of being held by Kylie, she's just too lost in her own misery. Soon she cries herself out and starts to regain her composure and tells Kylie she wants to go home.

"I understand," Kylie replies softly. "It shouldn't be long before I learn Teleport, and then I will take you home myself. So many people will be thrilled to see you again."

“Thanks,” Argent will say after a time, wiping her tears away. “Its silly. I cut my own hair out of frustration and all that poured out. I do feel better though, so it must have been something that I needed to get out of me.”

Moving back to the room, Lia silently approaches the invoker and speaks softly. “I know it is not much, but I want you to have these.” Handing the spare clothes.

Hearing a sound nearby, Kylie sees Lia approaching, and adjusts her position so that the dark elf can approach Argent with her gift of clothing. "That is so kind, Lia. Thank you."

“Thank you, Lia,” Argent adds suddenly aware of her own nudity. She'll accept the garments and put them on. The fit isn't perfect, but its still far better than what she had been wearing.

A mirror is found and at first Argent is afraid at what she'll find, but knows that she'll have to see her refection eventually. Accepting the mirror, Argent takes a good look at herself.

“I look like a raccoon,'' Argent remarks about the darkness around her eyes.

From there she'll style what remains of her hair, trimming it in a few places to make it presentable and even. She won't bother with any make up, but will clean herself up better.

The rest of the evening passes pleasantly enough. Before long Kylie, Lilia and Lia have set up their bedrolls in the same room. Lilia asks what I've found out about these Elder ruins. Talking about them lets Argent take her mind off of her own troubles.

“I've noted six seems to be an important number to the Elders,” Argent explains. “The pillars on the roof have Elder writing on them. Each pillar is the same except for the upper portion. The common writing talks about the pillars represent each of their six elements of the world in varying combinations. Their elements are mostly the same as ours: air, earth, fire and water. To this they added mind and will. We can guess what those mean, but what they meant to the Elders is a mystery.”

“Back in Cynalon, we assumed that each individual pillar in the formation was 'connected' to another pillar in another formation. For instance, if you powered up the east most pillar underneath Gateway, it sent to to the ruins of Mesilva. Likewise at Mesilva, the western pillar send you back to Gateway. But given how I arrived up here, I don't think that is exactly the case. Basically the top of each pillar is a direction. My theory is that the pillar isn't connected to another pillar, but rather it sends you off in that direction. If you pass close enough to another formation, you get pulled to it and that's where you arrive. I had thought that perhaps I had used the wrong pillar from Tulom. Perhaps the southeast one instead of the northeast one. So in theory, it sent me all around the world until the formation in these ruins pulled me in. If this place had not been here, I may have ended up back where I started.”

“This notion that you go in a certain direction until you're close enough to another formation makes sense. After all, if the pillars were tied to each other, what wold happen to you if your destination had been destroyed? Would it simply not work or would you just keep on going forever? Scary thought, huh?”

“The larger version down below also gave me some important information. The pillars down there also talk about the six elements as the ones above do, but each pillar specifies where this location is and where it sends you. I think that larger formation is keyed to specific locations. From what I've seen, the smaller pillars are used, for the most part, for local transportation. For instance all the ones in Gateway were maybe a weeks travel apart. If my theory is right, then the larger formation directly connected Elder Cities. The writing on these larger pillars indicated that they called this ruined city Shillesta in their language. So the smaller formations are meant for shorter distances, the larger ones connect cities.”

“I also think that we you arrive at new platform, the energy display you see clears the area of any debris that might disrupt transit. And that just makes sense. You wouldn't want your arrival point to be clogged and nor would you want to appear in solid rock. So in this way, the arrival point gets cleared.”

“Now when the orcs here were digging down below, the broke into that underground cavern where the city Pillar Artifact was. Clearly someone had to dig it out, since the orcs here didn't do it. I think the Hive came from another Elder City. When they arrived here, the action of using the artifact cleared out the area on the platform. So when they arrive, the the pillars were clear, but the rest of the area was buried. I think they've been coming here for a while now and the Hive were the ones who dug that underground tunnel. It wasn't long until after the orcs arrived that the Hive showed up. It probably was a group to dig, but instead they found that cavern was now open and started to capture and convert everyone. “

“This means that they'll be back,” Argent says with a sigh. “Burying the cavern just bought you some time is all.”

Tired from her long and emotionally wrenching day, Argent falls asleep early and sleeps until morning.

[Laucian]

Laucian

Having secured the Griffons a place to roost and seeing that they are comfortable, Laucian makes his way to the others. Sitting down near the others, Laucian takes some nuts and berries happily. He will politely refuse the stew. As it was not what he likes. He hears a sorrowful cry many of the female elves go to where the sound came from. Laucian takes up his sword and stand ready seeing Lia come back in and go to her pack eases his tension as he places his sword back in it’s scabbard.

Coming back he sits down and continues to partake of the berries and nuts. He will look to Andlin, “May I ask you a question? What did Chandra say to get you all to follow him? What did he say was here, aside from Xorg?”

Hearing the on going conversation Laucian has a small idea though if it Is done many questions would be raised as the idea would not be well received. Switching to common Laucian will speak to Lilia, “If Myev continues to aid us and puts her past behind her is there not a way that we can help her? More so you my Queen. If Myev is a friend to elves can you not bestow elf friend upon her as is your right as our leader? Surely humans and albeit, few dwarves have been given the title of Elf friend.” He lets the matter drop not wanting to push the issue.

Before going to bed Laucian will burn his spells to heal whom ever needs it.

[GM Mad]

Post Continued:

Still November 28th, CR 571 or Deepnight 22nd, 20,519 AP

At the roc building, Lilia has spoken to the elves who survived Chandra's folly. One such elf had questions about the Hive.

“We believe that they have been destroyed for now,” Lilia explains. “Chandra was infected by one of the parasites and through it the Hive learned about the Sylvan Realm and the Mother Tree. The Hive covets our home for their own nefarious needs. The ceiling of the chamber the Hive arrived in was unstable and we managed to collapse it. I am confident that all the Hive were crushed underneath it. But we must remain vigilant against this threat."

There is a murmur of disappointment from the surviving elves. “That fool dragged us into all of this due to thirst for glory and fame!” one elf cries out in anger. “Caught between a city of orcs and foul parasitic insects!”

“Yes, we are going on a small mission,” Lilia will finally say. “We have learned that the ship docked in the harbor is magical flying ship, much like the way we arrived here in the Sylvan Realm. The orcs on it call themselves the scro and they are more advanced then other orcs. But they are just as savage. The Hive also know about this ship. So, it is my contention to capture this ship and return it to the Sylvan Realm to keep it out of enemy hands, be it Hive, orc or scro. Come the morning, we will capture the ship and fly it back to the Sylvan Realm. Its my plan to dock it by the Elfin Palace and then return to the Mother Tree.”

The elves seem to have no issue in this matter. It is better to have it out of enemy hands.

Turning her attention towards Andlin, Lilia adds, “With Valena leading the rest of the elves back home, we could use another sword. Very well, Andlin, you may return to the Tall Tower with me.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Andlin announces with a bow. "I will be ready to depart on your word.”

Not long after that Lilia and Valena, along with Andlin ride griffons back to the Tall Tower. The arrival of the griffon startles Argent and Kylie goes after her to calm the Invoker. While the next wave of riders and bodies are made ready to return to the roc building, Lilia has more words for Andlin. The armored elf pitches in where he can.

“There are more details that you need to be aware of,” Lilia tells the armored elf. “We found two survivors among the orcs and hive. One is a human sorceress that is known, in varying degrees, to us by the name of Argent. She was held captive by the scro for many weeks. It is believed that her gear is on the ship we will be capturing in the morning.”

“Is your friend well?” Andlin questions. “Orc are not known to be kind to human females.”

“Secondly there is a female scro among us called Myev. She helped keep Argent alive during her captivity and is unlike any orc that I've crossed before. For now she is our guest and should be treated as such until proven otherwise. We'll have two guards active at all times over night. Otherwise rest and be ready to move out in the morning.”

“How strange,” Andlin remarks. “But today has seen many strange things take place. I will not harm this Myev without your word.”

[GM Mad]

Speaking of Myev, Lia is conversing with her inside the Tall Tower.

“You’ll find that not everyone will treat you as they have. Some better some worse.” Let us hope it is the former.”

“That would be nice,” Myev agrees.

“May I make a suggestion? Where I am from, The Lost Valley, is a community of good hearted races who are misunderstood and wish to be free. My grandmother helped find this settlement and welcome those who are lost, seeking freedom and kinship. While it may not be exactly what you are looking for it may be a good place to start and it is a safe one.

“It is an option,” Myev will reluctantly acknowledge.

“I am a half...”catching herself as she pushes her silver hair back and puts it in a ponytail. “Forgive me. Elves with skin such as mine are known as Drow. They are of the Underdark and are feared and hated where ever they are encountered. Many do not survive meeting my race of elves, for they are usually killed or worse enslaved. But there are those of Drow that are good at heart and seek to prove themselves good and seek to redeem their race.”

“Drow,” Myev repeats, familiarizing herself with this unknown word. “I never knew that there were other types of elves. I think my kind slew them before they became so diverse.”

“My brother, Talen is what is known as a half elf. One of mixed heritage. Human like Argent and Drow blood. Kylie is also known as a half elf. It is said that when one looks at a half elf they see both races, though many see one parentage over the other.”

“A half-breed,” Myev says in understanding. “There are no such things among the Scro for they consider no other race to be worth of such a thing. A half-breed scro would be killed on sight. Things are so different here.”

When Kylie's stew is ready, Talen, Lia, Argent and Myev all join in on the meal. The elves munch on their usual trail mix of dried fruit and nuts.

“This is good!” Myev will pronounce upon sampling the stew. “Very hearty.”

Nearby Laucian converses with Andlin. The armored elf has removed his helm and nibbles on his own trail mix and samples his water skin.

Coming back he sits down and continues to partake of the berries and nuts. He will look to Andlin, “May I ask you a question? What did Chandra say to get you all to follow him? What did he say was here, aside from Xorg?”

“Chandra was a Priest of Corellon,” Andlin notes while keeping a watch on Myev. “His words were most persuasive. Its not so much what was here, but rather the good we could do for the Elfin People. He reasoned that since so many orcs fell in the Sylvan Realm, that there numbers were low here. At least as far as skilled warriors went. In a surprise attack, we could take out all the rest. Cripple the enemy and give the Sylvan Realm decades of peace while we rebuild our forces. Could you have resisted such an invitation?”

After supper Argent goes to clean herself up and has her breakdown. Kylie helps her friend through this ordeal. Lia provides Argent with fresh clothes and Lilia a mirror to help her clean up. Afterwards the girls all settle into the side room for the evening's rest. Myev will hesitantly come in as well and place a bedroll away from everyone else. She seems content to just listen and belong.

Argent explains her theories about the Pillar Artifacts from her time here in these ruins. She even found the Elder name for this city: Shillesta. The Invoker believes the smaller formations are used to travel shorter distances, while the larger one connects Elder Cities. If this is true, then the Hive came from a different Elder City somewhere else in the world.

Presumable, the men will put their bedrolls in a different chamber. A guard rotation is set up for the evening just like the night before. Only this time Andlin takes Valena's place. Argent and Myev are not expected to stand guard. The night passes peacefully.


Finally December 1st, CR 571 or Deepnight 23rd, 20,519 AP

Morning comes and the elves start to rise and meet the day. The sky is starting to brighten and Kylie starts to work on breakfast. Argent and Myev are still asleep.

Laucian makes goes around and checks on all the griffons. However one is missing. Laucian looks around the and quickly finds the missing griffon. It's been ridden by Talen and he is flying to the north!

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

We've finally made it to the next day! I'll post the Campaign History recap for this day this week. I have started it and it was over 12 pages long the last time I worked on it. A lot happened in this game during this day!

I'll need any updated or changed spell lists by this post, if you haven't done so already. If you want to keep the same spells as before, don't post a new list. I'll assume the old spell set is still in use.

Laucian helped heal everyone. I also assume that the Endure Cold spells were renewed as well on the people and the griffons.

The real world analogy as far as the different types of Pillar Formations is that the small one is your local mass transit system and the bigger ones is an airport.


Spell Activity:

Everyone is back up to maximum Spell Points and all spells are available.

Now what?

Edit: The Sylvan Realm entry for November 28th has been posted. Added the Frontier entry for December 1st. Added more elves to the Elfquest people list at the top of this forum.

[Talen]

Talen:

Lia looks to her brother quizzically at the notion of hearing something far off. “Are you okay?” she asks as he comes back to the orc girl. She laughs for a moment then shakes her head slightly. “I guess you didn’t notice.” She says evenly.

“I fell fine,” Talen answers. “I'm just distracted.”

“I was speaking of Myev, not us.” she says with a smirk, “although, a lot has changed in such a short time. I wonder what Nightmist would say if she saw us now.”

Talen turns and focuses on his sister. “No matter what happens to us, I am sure that she would be proud of us, of you and how you choose to honor her.”

Lia looks at her brother mirth in her lavender eyes, “Talen for someone as smart as you sometimes you don’t see what is right near your face. No, I didn’t hear anything but I have eyes. I think Kylie likes you.” she says.

“I like her too,” Talon admits. “It's not like I have a lot of experience in dating girls. I'm not sure what to do half the time.”

Later that night, Talon tries to sleep, but that noise is just too distracting! It's like a fly buzzing around his head constantly.

“This is stupid!” Talon thinks to himself as he gives up trying to sleep. Using his stealth, Talon leaves the sleeping area and finds that daylight isn't that far off. Having made is mind up, Talon takes one of the griffons away from where everyone is sleeping and directs it to fly to the north. Towards what he does not know, but he'll won't get any peace until whatever is calling him is discovered.

[Lilia]

Lilia:

There is a murmur of disappointment from the surviving elves. “That fool dragged us into all of this due to his thirst for glory and fame!” one elf cries out in anger. “Caught between a city of orcs and foul parasitic insects!”

Lilia sympathizes with the reaction of the elves. “Let this be a lesson to us all,” Lilia adds. “Chandra put his personal goals before the Elfin People and the Mother Tree and paid a steep price.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Andlin announces with a bow. "I will be ready to depart on your word.”

Somehow, Lilia does not doubt Andlin words.

“Is your friend well?” Andlin questions. “Orc are not known to be kind to human females.”

“As well as can be expected,” Lilia states. “She was held by the scro who think themselves superior to all other races. To them, they found the concept of mating with a lesser race disgusting. That's probably all that saved her from a horrible fate.”

“How strange,” Andlin remarks. “But today has seen many strange things take place. I will not harm this Myev without your word.”

“Thank you, Andlin,” Lilia gratefully answers.

Hearing the on going conversation Laucian has a small idea though if it Is done many questions would be raised as the idea would not be well received. Switching to common Laucian will speak to Lilia, “If Myev continues to aid us and puts her past behind her is there not a way that we can help her? More so you my Queen. If Myev is a friend to elves can you not bestow elf friend upon her as is your right as our leader? Surely humans and albeit, few dwarves have been given the title of Elf friend.” He lets the matter drop not wanting to push the issue.

“I suppose it is possible,” Lilia responds. “She will have to prove herself worthy, of course. This is a case of time will tell,”


Once Argent is more composed, Lilia will bring her bedroll into that chamber and get it ready for the evenings rest. Argent is feeling talkative and goes into what she's found and deduced about the different Pillar Artifacts and this Elder City.

“I believe that they called themselves the Chiliz,” Lilia speaks up. “The Elders I mean. When the Hive Queen was talking she mentioned that the Hive had absorbed the last of the Chiliz and from that the Hive learned how to use the Pillar Artifacts. It seems to be that these Chiliz and the Elders are one and the same.”

“As for the rest of your deductions,” Lilia notes, “I've never encountered an Elder artifact before, so I have no prior knowledge to draw on. Your theories could be correct or there might be facts missing.”

“I noted that before,” Lilia states when Argent mentions that the underground cavern had been dug up from the inside. “Both you and Myev mentioned it. I had hoped that by collapsing the ceiling would topple the Pillar Artifact, but that does seem like a slim hope. After all, it has endured thousands of years and no doubt many earth upheavals given the state of these ruins. They could be indestructible.”

“This means that they'll be back,” Argent says with a sigh. “Burying the cavern just bought you some time is all.”

“I had feared as much,” Lilia noted. “We will have to be prepared for that possibility.”

“I also fear that we are not the only ones who know about the Pillar Artifacts in this region in addition to the Hive,” Lilia continues. “When Laucian returned to the Mother Tree from his mission to the south, he informed me of information that had been gathered at the southern forts. Writings and messages from the humans, orcs and the fire giants. That elfin historian, I believe her name was Elora translated them. She said that the humans were instructed to find the arrival point for a travel column so that they could directly attack Moorkroft. I didn't know what that meant back then, but now I have to believe that what they are talking about is the Pillar Artifact itself. Pillar, column. A word to describe the same thing. Clearly the humans have access to their own Pillar Artifact and that somewhere in the Sylvan Realm there is another. But where?”

“There were also the fire giants. They seemed to be in conflict with frost giants over something they called the Pedestal. Now what would be a pedestal to you and me and to a giant might be very different. But the text seemed to suggest that this Pedestal was something that allowed them to travel to what they called the 'City of the Gods' and from it onto Ostoria, which sounds like their home. This Pedestal sounds an awful lot like the Pillar Artifact as well, since it allows you to travel elsewhere.”

“It seems clear to me,” Lilia concludes. “Our enemies have access to these artifacts and know how to use them. For the good of the Sylvan Realm, we must come to understand them as well.


Morning comes and Lilia is up early to memorize her mage spells and pray to replenish her priest spells. Word comes that Talen has gone off on his own!

“What was he thinking,” Lilia says rhetorically. “Laucian, you, Andlin and Lia go after him! The rest of us will catch up when we can. Now go!”

[Laucian]

Laucian

“Chandra was a Priest of Corellon,” Andlin notes while keeping a watch on Myev. “His words were most persuasive. Its not so much what was here, but rather the good we could do for the Elfin People. He reasoned that since so many orcs fell in the Sylvan Realm, that there numbers were low here. At least as far as skilled warriors went. In a surprise attack, we could take out all the rest. Cripple the enemy and give the Sylvan Realm decades of peace while we rebuild our forces. Could you have resisted such an invitation?”

Laucian listens to the explanation that Andlin gives and Laucian nods as he tells the tale. “Honestly, no.” he retorts back to the fighter. “But I met him briefly as he tried to recruit me while tending to the wounded. There was something about him that seemed off to me, rather than see to the wounded he wished to set off against the orcs. It did not sit well with me and I began to mistrust him, regardless of his intentions.”
Laucian makes not of the fighter watching Myev. “She seems okay, but it is still early to see.” Switching to common.
Laucian makes his bedroll ready and prays to Ehlonna for her guidance and spells. Putting his head down until his break time, Laucian than awakens to go and check on the Griffons. Making sure they are alright Laucian finds one is missing! Looking around he spots a griffon in the distance flying north with Talen on his back… “This was not part of the plan.”he says as calls out to Talen, “Come back!!”Seeing the elf not wishing to return he runs back to the others.
“We have a problem.” He states catching his breath, “Talen ran away to the north.”

“What was he thinking,” Lilia says rhetorically. “Laucian, you, Andlin and Lia go after him! The rest of us will catch up when we can. Now go!”

Hearing his name called, Laucian grabs his gear, dawns his quiver, bow and sword. “Let us hope we can catch him before something else does.”
Laucian will go to the griffons check the barding of the griffons then mount up on Aura. Without looking back for the others, Laucian takes to the air to the north.

[Kylie]

Kylie:

“That's wonderful!” Argent beams. “I know how much you missed your mother, so to find her again is a blessing. Admittedly I've given many thoughts to my family as of late. There were times that I believed that I would never see them again. I promised myself when I started out on this journey, that I wouldn't go home until I was successful. I was afraid that they would talk me out of being a mage. What a stupid fool I was. Family is so important. Sometimes its all we have.”

"Family is important, but so are your dreams," Kylie says reassuringly. "I think one of the hardest parts of being an adult is figuring out how to balance your priorities."

“Someone would have to cast it on me,” Argent explains. “I don't have my spell book handy and I don't know it well enough yet to cast it on the fly. I assume that my spellbook is with my gear down on the ship. I wouldn't worry about me being too heavy, I've lost weight up here.”

"I'll be sure to memorize it in the morning," Kylie affirms, wanting to support her friend as best she can.

“It makes sense,” Lilia agrees. “No, I don't know how to make a teleportation tower. I am only going by the things Sherwood Elf-friend stated in regards to teleporting. He said that distance is not a factor, but rather knowledge of your arrival point. There is also the danger of arriving too high or too low. The teleportation tower solves these problems. Jallarzi has one on her estate.”

"That's right. I'd forgotten about Jallarzi's," Kylie says, chagrined at her lapse. "She would be a good starting place to track down that knowledge."

“One of us will learn it soon enough,” Lilia answers. “Admittedly, I've been more focused on my increasing my skill with my priestly duties than acquiring mage knowledge. But still, it will be exciting to learn more powerful spells.”

"It is one of the great things about being a mage..." Kylie enthuses.

“Maybe I'll be able to fill myself back out again.”

Kylie won't comment on Argent's weight, as she knows it is a sensitive subject. It is hard seeing her friend look so emaciated, though.

“And the hours we spent in Jallarzi's kitchen,” Argent adds.

Kylie chuckles. "Yeah, there were a lot of those, weren't there? I'd almost managed to forget..."

“This is good!” Myev will pronounce upon sampling the stew. “Very hearty.”

"Thank you, Myev. I'm glad you're enjoying it," Kylie replies with a smile.

“Well met, Lia,” Lilia responds. “Everyone, this is Andlin Alastra. He was one of the elves we rescued on the roc building. He seems to be believe that the Queen of the Sylvan Realm needs a bodyguard. Since Valena is off on her own assignment, I figured an extra sword arm would come in handy. It solves two problems.”

Kylie smirks at the thought of the queen needing a bodyguard. Nevertheless, all she'll say is, "Well met, Andlin."

“Thanks,” Argent will say after a time, wiping her tears away. “Its silly. I cut my own hair out of frustration and all that poured out. I do feel better though, so it must have been something that I needed to get out of me.”

"It's not silly," she says with an adamant tone in her voice. "It was important that you allow yourself an opportunity to deal with those feelings."

“Of course,” Lilia says. “Its very understandable. I don't know if I could have lived through what she endured.”

Kylie just nods in agreement. It is hard to even imagine what her friend has been through the last month and a half.

“From what I've seen,” Lilia states, “Argent is already more skilled in grooming herself then any of us are. I never put much stock in such things, but I suppose that given my new status a more stately appearance might be required. I might need to take some lessons from her.”

"I think Argent would like that," Kylie replies thoughtfully.

After a moment's thought, Lilia fishes through her backpack and pulls out a small mirror. “This should help her with her appearance.”

"That's wonderful, Lilia! I'm sure she'd love to put it to use." Kylie thinks for a moment. "I think you're right about being the queen and the value of giving more thought to how your appearance affects others' perception of you. You're beautiful, but that's not the same thing as 'queenly', if that makes sense..."

“I look like a raccoon,'' Argent remarks about the darkness around her eyes.

"Nonsense. You're a beautiful woman, and you know it. That faint shading will be gone in no time - especially if you keep eating my cooking." A slight smile creeps across Kylie's features.

Kylie is pleased that Lilia, Lia and Myev have joined them in the room for the night. It is good for them all to be there together. Argent is a very social person, and being around other supportive women is just the sort of thing she needs.

Kylie finds the discussion of the pillars interesting, but has nothing to add as it is way outside her area of knowledge. One comment does seem to warrant a response, however.

“This means that they'll be back,” Argent says with a sigh. “Burying the cavern just bought you some time is all.”

"I suspect that eventually we'll have to take the fight to them, which may require braving the Pillars ourselves." This is not a pleasant thought from her perspective, but she's not sure that there is a way around it.

Lilia's concerns regarding how widespread knowledge of the Pillars may be is alarming, but Kylie cannot fault her logic.

“It seems clear to me,” Lilia concludes. “Our enemies have access to these artifacts and know how to use them. For the good of the Sylvan Realm, we must come to understand them as well.

Kylie nods. "I'll do what I can to help, though I am not the scholar that you two are."

“We have a problem.” He states catching his breath, “Talen ran away to the north.”

“What was he thinking,” Lilia says rhetorically. “Laucian, you, Andlin and Lia go after him! The rest of us will catch up when we can. Now go!”

Kylie sighs heavily. She really hopes that Talen won't get himself into more trouble than he can handle. She was just starting to really warm up to the guy...

Kylie moves off to prepare for whatever the day will bring, both in regard to fetching their wayward friend, and recovering the flying ship from the scro.

______________________________________________________________________
I don't recall if mages can memorize spells from other mages' spell-books, or if they can only use their own. If they can use others, then Kylie will offer to let Argent use hers.

[Argent]

Argent:

"Family is important, but so are your dreams," Kylie says reassuringly. "I think one of the hardest parts of being an adult is figuring out how to balance your priorities."

“I suppose you're right,” Argent sighs.

"I'll be sure to memorize it in the morning," Kylie affirms, wanting to support her friend as best she can.

“Thanks!” Argent replies. “There are a few things that I can cast without study. Magic Missile for instance and Cantrip of course. Feather Fall, Web and Vocalize. I'm not completely helpless, but lacking.”

Kylie chuckles. "Yeah, there were a lot of those, weren't there? I'd almost managed to forget..."

“Its not something that I'll ever forget,” Argent reminisces. “At first is was one of most frustrating things I ever went through. This was before you arrived at the estate. I came very close to leaving and giving up being a mage. I haven't been that low in a long time. Until recently, of course.”

"It's not silly," she says with an adamant tone in her voice. "It was important that you allow yourself an opportunity to deal with those feelings."

Argent lets out a light laugh. “Being out in the world as done you a lot of good,” Argent notes. “You've become so mature and worldly from that scared girl Sherwood brought to the Sallavarian Estate.”

"Nonsense. You're a beautiful woman, and you know it. That faint shading will be gone in no time - especially if you keep eating my cooking." A slight smile creeps across Kylie's features.

“Oh, I know,” Argent agrees about her looks. “Its a curse that I've had to bear. So what about you, Kylie? Is there anyone special in your life?”

“I believe that they called themselves the Chiliz,” Lilia speaks up. “The Elders I mean. When the Hive Queen was talking she mentioned that the Hive had absorbed the last of the Chiliz and from that the Hive learned how to use the Pillar Artifacts. It seems to be that these Chiliz and the Elders are one and the same.”

“Chiliz?” Argent repeats. “What a odd name. But then again the Elders do seem like an odd bunch.”

“I noted that before,” Lilia states when Argent mentions that the underground cavern had been dug up from the inside. “Both you and Myev mentioned it. I had hoped that by collapsing the ceiling would topple the Pillar Artifact, but that does seem like a slim hope. After all, it has endured thousands of years and no doubt many earth upheavals given the state of these ruins. They could be indestructible.”

“It's a reasonable assumption,” Argent agrees. “If these ruins are as old as suspected, then they shouldn't even be standing any more, let alone being in as good shape as they are. If you noticed the stone seems almost new, but nothing else survived. No furniture, household items, anything. It must have rotted away centuries ago.”

“I had feared as much,” Lilia noted. “We will have to be prepared for that possibility.”

“If not for their great numbers, these Hive would not be so dangerous,” Argent notes. “A few Fireballs will take many of them out. What is troubling is that they can draw on the abilities of those they absorbed. Such as them casting my version of Magic Missiles. You wouldn't want them to get a hold of anyone really powerful like say Jallarzi or Lord Sharadin. That would be scary to have an army of ant men casting high powered mage spells.”

"I suspect that eventually we'll have to take the fight to them, which may require braving the Pillars ourselves." This is not a pleasant thought from her perspective, but she's not sure that there is a way around it.

“Yeah, it occurs to me that using this pillars is taking a huge chance,” Argent adds. “You never know what is going to be on the other side. When the Company used the one at Karn's Keep in our quest for the Sword of Doom, we ended up in a white dragons lair during a blizzard. Not the nicest place to appear!”

“It seems clear to me,” Lilia concludes. “Our enemies have access to these artifacts and know how to use them. For the good of the Sylvan Realm, we must come to understand them as well.

Argent listens closely as Lilia speaks about what other parties might be using the Pillar Artifact in this region. “What humans are these and who is this Moorkroft? If there is a Pillar Artifact in the Sylvan Realm, then the elves must have found it a long time ago. If it was me and I had this thing that I couldn't control nor prevent anyone from using to reach my land, I would try to seal it off as best I could. Is there any place in the Sylvan Realm that is highly protected? They could have buried it I suppose.”

Eventually Argent tires and she says her good nights. Sleep comes easy as for the first time in weeks she doesn't feel afraid.

After a long and very much needed deep sleep, Argent awakes the next morning at some point. Kylie and Lilia are moving about as if something has happened.

“What's going on?” Argent asks as she wipes the sleep from her eyes with a yawn. “Something happen?”

[Lia]

Lia

“I feel fine,” Talen answers. “I'm just distracted.”

“That isn’t like you. If you would like to talk, I am here brother.”

Talen turns and focuses on his sister. “No matter what happens to us, I am sure that she would be proud of us, of you and how you choose to honor her.”

“I would like to believe so.” She says with a wolfish grin.

“I like her too,” Talon admits. “It's not like I have a lot of experience in dating girls. I'm not sure what to do half the time.”

“Does anyone? She retorts. “Brother, a word of advice. When you are ready tell her, perhaps she feels the same.”

Lia will offer her hand in a warriors grip, “Well met, Andlin. It will be good to have another sword.”

After praying and dancing to Eilistrae, Lia lays out her bedroll. She puts her weapon near her bedroll a dagger laying near her hand. As she lays her head down and silently thinks to herslf. A thought comes to her and she raises out a bed briefly to pray for a particular spell then returns to sleep.

Waking up early, Lia gathers up her weapons and gear and packs them. She pulls her hair back in a ponytail and then pulls out her sword, checking the blade and then returns it to it’s sheath. Her Lavender eyes look around and sees Argent and Myev still waking up so Lia acts on her suspicions. Lia casts Detect evil in common and focuses on Argent and Myev. While she could not detect lies from Myev she just wants to be certain.

A few moments later Laucian comes in telling them that Talen ran off. Lia’s eyes narrow as anger and concern comes to her features, “I swear if he gets himself killed, I’ll have him resurrected so I can kill him!

“What was he thinking,” Lilia says rhetorically. “Laucian, you, Andlin and Lia go after him! The rest of us will catch up when we can. Now go!”

Lia, already having her gear together, grabs her stuff and heads after Laucian.

[GM Mad]

Post Continued:

November 28th, CR 571 or Deepnight 22nd, 20,519 AP

At the roc building..

Lilia sympathizes with the reaction of the elves. “Let this be a lesson to us all,” Lilia adds. “Chandra put his personal goals before the Elfin People and the Mother Tree and paid a steep price.”

Those elves present solemnly agree with what the Queen says. Not long after that Lilia, Valena and Andlin depart for the Tall Tower.

Once at the Tall Tower, Lilia explains the situation to Andlin concerning Argent and Myev.

“As well as can be expected,” Lilia states. “She was held by the scro who think themselves superior to all other races. To them, they found the concept of mating with a lesser race disgusting. That's probably all that saved her from a horrible fate.”

Andlin nods in agreement. “These scro sound like a dangerous foe. I can see the need in eliminating them. A more potent form of orc is not needed.”

Lia will offer her hand in a warriors grip, “Well met, Andlin. It will be good to have another sword.”

“Greetings, Priestess,” Andlin responds grasping Lia's hand. “I look forward to seeing you in battle. I have heard tales of the sword skills your sect exhibits.”

Laucian listens to the explanation that Andlin gives and Laucian nods as he tells the tale. “Honestly, no.” he retorts back to the fighter. “But I met him briefly as he tried to recruit me while tending to the wounded. There was something about him that seemed off to me, rather than see to the wounded he wished to set off against the orcs. It did not sit well with me and I began to mistrust him, regardless of his intentions.”

“Unfortunately, I had no other interaction with him before he approached me about this mission,” Andlin explains. “Many of us took an oath to save the Mother Tree and when we did arrive in the Sylvan Realm we found that task had already been completed. Some of us wanted to help out since our primary mission was no longer viable. We felt like we needed to do something and this, at the time, seemed like a sensible alternative. We couldn't save the Mother Tree, but we could protect her for years to come.”

Laucian makes note of the fighter watching Myev. “She seems okay, but it is still early to see.”

Andlin simply nods in agreement. “Keeping a watchful, but respectful eye seems prudent at this time. Fear not, I made a vow to the Queen that I would not harm her until she gives the word. I am a man of my word.”

The rest of the night passes without incident.

[GM Mad]

December 1st, CR 571 or Deepnight 23rd, 20,519 AP

Early next morning, Lia is up and casts Detect Evil. Neither Argent of Myev register as evil.

Laucian is up and checking on the griffons. He finds one missing and while scanning the sky finds it flying to the north with Talen riding it! They are to far away, at least a mile or two, for words to reach. Rushing back, Laucian informs the others.

Lilia hands out assignments:

“What was he thinking,” Lilia says rhetorically. “Laucian, you, Andlin and Lia go after him! The rest of us will catch up when we can. Now go!”

“As you command, my Queen,” Andlin intones as he grabs his gear.

Laucian and Lia follow suit and soon all three are on griffons riding in the general direction that Talen has gone off in. Laucian scans the skies and is able to pick Talen up far off in the distance. He seems to be heading to a location a few miles from the distant shore where the galleon sits. Perhaps about half way between the ship and the Tall Tower. Talen's griffon drops from the sky and lands among some ruins. After that you lose sight of him.


Back at the Tall Tower, Argent and Myev are just now getting up. Myev discards her Blood Dagger tabard and just has on her regular, admittedly hideous looking, clothes. Both Myev and Argent keep their distance from the two griffons that remain behind. Argent has a natural dislike of the winged creatures from her days at the Sallavarian Estate. While testing to see if the griffons will tolerate Myev it becomes clear that they will not. Upon seeing Myev the griffon closest to her will lunge and snap at her! Myev retreats back to the sleeping area where the griffon cannot reach her. Clearly the griffons were bred to be friendly only to elves and those of elfish blood.

“How did you tame such savage beasts?” A fearful Myev wonders from a safe distance.


Several miles away, Laucian, Lia and Andlin can spot Talen's griffon on the ground and land close to it. Other than the griffon, no other living creature is around. The galleon is still a few miles further north, but you can't help but believe that the scro would have seen the airborne griffons if they were paying any attention at all.

This section of the ruins has taken far more physical damage then those up on the plateau. Nothing here glows red and most of the stone has been smashed. Large rocks litter the area. Some of the ruins can be seen on the surface, while the rest is partially buried by the earth.

Laucian scans the ground and quickly picks up Talen's trail. He follows it around the rocks and deeper into the ruins. Just then a scream that sounds like it's coming from Talen pierces the air from further ahead! You can only imagine what someone or thing is doing to him to make he yell like that.

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

I don't recall if mages can memorize spells from other mages' spell-books, or if they can only use their own. If they can use others, then Kylie will offer to let Argent use hers.

Mages can only study to relearn spells from their own spellbook. While they can learn new spells from other books, they then have to record the spell as they understand it in their own book. By doing this, a mage does not need to cast Read Magic to study their own book. The final chapter in Book 1 of Argent's Adventures goes into this deeper.

Kylie, Lilia, Argent and Myev are back at the Tall Tower with 2 griffons. The griffons are only friendly to elves and those descended from elves, so they cannot be used to carry Argent and Myev. If you plan on taking both of them to the ship, another way will be needed.

Laucian, Lia, and Andlin have caught up to where Talen landed before he moved deeper in the ruins. Based on the scream, he's not that far ahead. A few hundred yards.


Now what?

[Kylie]

Kylie:

“Thanks!” Argent replies. “There are a few things that I can cast without study. Magic Missile for instance and Cantrip of course. Feather Fall, Web and Vocalize. I'm not completely helpless, but lacking.”

"That's great! And once we get your spell-books and equipment back, you'll be ready for anything."

“Its not something that I'll ever forget,” Argent reminisces. “At first is was one of most frustrating things I ever went through. This was before you arrived at the estate. I came very close to leaving and giving up being a mage. I haven't been that low in a long time. Until recently, of course.”

"I'm glad you didn't give up, Argent," Kylie says, giving her friend a hug.

Argent lets out a light laugh. “Being out in the world as done you a lot of good,” Argent notes. “You've become so mature and worldly from that scared girl Sherwood brought to the Sallavarian Estate.”

"Trust me, it comes and goes..." Kylie says with a chuckle. It feels good to be joking and laughing with her friend again.

“Oh, I know,” Argent agrees about her looks. “Its a curse that I've had to bear. So what about you, Kylie? Is there anyone special in your life?”

"Me?" Kylie asks, blushing, with a hint of deer-in-the-headlights in her eyes. "Uh... Well, I rather like that young guy, Talen, that you met earlier. And I think he likes me a bit, but nothing super-romantic has developed as of yet. Not sure if either of us is ready for that right now..."

“It's a reasonable assumption,” Argent agrees. “If these ruins are as old as suspected, then they shouldn't even be standing any more, let alone being in as good shape as they are. If you noticed the stone seems almost new, but nothing else survived. No furniture, household items, anything. It must have rotted away centuries ago.”

"Yeah, that seemed odd to me too. Perhaps some kind of magical effect, either native to this type of stone, or maybe the magical properties were all imbued by the Elders?" Kylie isn't the scholar that Lilia and Argent are, but she is a fair student and rather inquisitive.

“Yeah, it occurs to me that using this pillars is taking a huge chance,” Argent adds. “You never know what is going to be on the other side. When the Company used the one at Karn's Keep in our quest for the Sword of Doom, we ended up in a white dragons lair during a blizzard. Not the nicest place to appear!”

"Ouch!" Kylie seems to wince at the thought. "I see what you mean. I was thinking more along the lines of being teleported into the middle of a bug-men army, but just about anything is possible, I guess."

Argent listens closely as Lilia speaks about what other parties might be using the Pillar Artifact in this region. “What humans are these and who is this Moorkroft? If there is a Pillar Artifact in the Sylvan Realm, then the elves must have found it a long time ago. If it was me and I had this thing that I couldn't control nor prevent anyone from using to reach my land, I would try to seal it off as best I could. Is there any place in the Sylvan Realm that is highly protected? They could have buried it I suppose.”

"Moorcroft is a human wizard from the lands east of the Sylvan Realm who attempted to take over the Realm and become immortal. We had to kill him to free the Mother Tree.' Kylie pauses to think for a second. "The Elven Palace is highly protected, so that's one possibility. When we were searching for the amulets to power the Rainbow Bridge, we encountered a number of other protected locations, so there certainly could be more."


Morning comes, and with it a new problem. Talen has taken one of the griffins and flown off to the north by himself!

“We have a problem.” He states catching his breath, “Talen ran away to the north.”

Kylie turns a looks out to the north. "Oh Talen, what have you gotten yourself into this time..."

Hearing his name called, Laucian grabs his gear, dawns his quiver, bow and sword. “Let us hope we can catch him before something else does.”

Kylie turns to Laucian, worry evident in her eyes and a note of fear in her voice. "Please do bring him back safe..."

“What's going on?” Argent asks as she wipes the sleep from her eyes with a yawn. “Something happen?”

Hearing Argent's question, Kylie goes over to her. "You know that guy I mentioned last night, Talen? The idiot has gone off by himself! What can he be thinking?!"

With no other way to deal with her feelings, Kylie turns her hand to packing up the camp so that they can depart at the earliest opportunity.

“How did you tame such savage beasts?” A fearful Myev wonders from a safe distance.

It is clear that they have another problem. Neither Argent nor Myev can ride the griffins. Kylie has one Fly spell that she memorized for Argent, but she forgot to consider Myev. Turning to Lilia, she asks, "Lilia, do you have any Fly spells? I memorized one for Argent, but didn't think about needing one for Myev. Plus, I'm not sure that one spell will get us all the way to the ship. I might be able to carry Argent, but haven't actually tried carrying an adult so I don't know if that will work."

[Lia]

Lia

Lia casts her spell of Detect evil and she concentrates in the area of Myev and Argent. No trace of evil is found and Lia relaxes all the more. Before leaving with the other riders, Lia approaches Lilia and speaks softly. “Earlier this morning, I casted a spell of detect evil. None was found in our new companions, though I would still keep an eye on them.”

Grabbing her gear she follows Laucian and Andlin to the Griffons. Mounting up she closes her eyes briefly during take off and does a silent prayer to Eilistrae for Talen’s Safety. The trip is a bit nerve racking for her as they spot his griffon on the ground, Lia puts her griffon into a dive telling it to land.

Quickly dismounting Lia looks around and then to Laucian as he begins looking around. He calls them forward through some rocks as a scream is heard. Lia’s heart goes to her chest as she calls for her brother. “Talen!” She moves forward quickly looking to the ruins about her for signs of life.

[Laucian]

Laucian

“Unfortunately, I had no other interaction with him before he approached me about this mission,” Andlin explains. “Many of us took an oath to save the Mother Tree and when we did arrive in the Sylvan Realm we found that task had already been completed. Some of us wanted to help out since our primary mission was no longer viable. We felt like we needed to do something and this, at the time, seemed like a sensible alternative. We couldn't save the Mother Tree, but we could protect her for years to come.”

“I can see how that would be appealing. My mother died and father missing due to orcs. Each orc life I take brings me closer to them, though perhaps I errored in my judgement. The Lost Valley taught me to not condemn the race, though it is easy to do so.”Laucian chuckles and shakes his head, “I was called soft for thinking so. It is ironic.”

Andlin simply nods in agreement. “Keeping a watchful, but respectful eye seems prudent at this time. Fear not, I made a vow to the Queen that I would not harm her until she gives the word. I am a man of my word.”

“Her demise will be swift if she tries to harm our kin.” in common, Laucian looks to the orc then to Andlin.

Kylie turns to Laucian, worry evident in her eyes and a note of fear in her voice. "Please do bring him back safe..."

“I will do all that I can, Kylie.” He says with a reassuring smile. “If I can track him there is hope.”

Laucian keeps a watchful eye out for Talen though he does not see his mount for sometime. Upon seeing it he glides his mount down and lands near Talen’s mount.

“Let us get him and move from here. The Scro probably saw us in the distance. Perhaps they will come to investigate.”

Dropping from Aura Laucian scans the ground and quickly picks up Talen's trail. He follows it around the rocks and deeper into the ruins. Just then a scream that sounds like it's coming from Talen pierces the air from further ahead! You can only imagine what someone or thing is doing to him to make he yell like that.

Laucian sees his trail and begins to motion for the others to follow him as a cry calls out followed by Lia’s call for her brother. Turning quickly, Laucian eyes widen but are stern, “I know of your concern for your brother, But if you want to help him remain quiet. We do not know what dwells here.”

Taking out his bow and knocking an arrow to it Laucian follows the trail. “Andlin, watch our rear, Lia stay in the center.”

Laucian will keep to Talen’s trail. If he spots a point where he might be able to see a good distance he will call for a stop and investigate. As much as he realizes Talen may be in danger a thought comes to him. “Could there be more Hive?” he asks silently to the others.

[Lilia]

Lilia:

Andlin nods in agreement. “These scro sound like a dangerous foe. I can see the need in eliminating them. A more potent form of orc is not needed.”

“They need to be exterminated with extreme prejudice,” Lilia stresses. “They appear to be from another world and on that world they annihilated all the elves and are now looking for more. Their hunt ends here.”

"That's right. I'd forgotten about Jallarzi's," Kylie says, chagrined at her lapse. "She would be a good starting place to track down that knowledge."

“I am sure that the Lady Sallavarian and Lord Sharadin would be most interested in what we have uncovered up here,” Lilia notes. “They may wish to set up an embassy here in the Sylvan Realm in your proposed area. They might even help in its construction.”

"It is one of the great things about being a mage..." Kylie enthuses.

“And now for me as a priest as well,” Lilia agrees. “Many new spells.”

"I think Argent would like that," Kylie replies thoughtfully.

“It might be worth pursuing if I have time to spare,” Lilia adds.

"That's wonderful, Lilia! I'm sure she'd love to put it to use." Kylie thinks for a moment. "I think you're right about being the queen and the value of giving more thought to how your appearance affects others' perception of you. You're beautiful, but that's not the same thing as 'queenly', if that makes sense..."

“Me? Beautiful?” Lilia repeats in surprise. “I never thought much about my own looks. I grew up either training to fight orcs with bow, blade and spells or I had my nose in a book. But, as you noted, a more regal appearance might be necessary at times.”

“Chiliz?” Argent repeats. “What a odd name. But then again the Elders do seem like an odd bunch.”

“I do wonder what a Chiliz looked like,” Lilia says. “Were they humanoid like us or something all together different? I suppose that we'll never know.”

“It's a reasonable assumption,” Argent agrees. “If these ruins are as old as suspected, then they shouldn't even be standing any more, let alone being in as good shape as they are. If you noticed the stone seems almost new, but nothing else survived. No furniture, household items, anything. It must have rotted away centuries ago.”

“The stone is enchanted,” Lilia states. “I checked for that back at Blood Stone Peak. It is possible that it holds other enchantments beyond the ones we have been able to determine thus far.”

“If not for their great numbers, these Hive would not be so dangerous,” Argent notes. “A few Fireballs will take many of them out. What is troubling is that they can draw on the abilities of those they absorbed. Such as them casting my version of Magic Missiles. You wouldn't want them to get a hold of anyone really powerful like say Jallarzi or Lord Sharadin. That would be scary to have an army of ant men casting high powered mage spells.”

“Most enemies are not as dangerous to us,” Lilia notes. “To those trained to fight them. But to those who cannot fight them, I imagine that they are lethal.”

Argent listens closely as Lilia speaks about what other parties might be using the Pillar Artifact in this region. “What humans are these and who is this Moorkroft? If there is a Pillar Artifact in the Sylvan Realm, then the elves must have found it a long time ago. If it was me and I had this thing that I couldn't control nor prevent anyone from using to reach my land, I would try to seal it off as best I could. Is there any place in the Sylvan Realm that is highly protected? They could have buried it I suppose.”

"Moorkroft is a human wizard from the lands east of the Sylvan Realm who attempted to take over the Realm and become immortal. We had to kill him to free the Mother Tree.' Kylie pauses to think for a second. "The Elfin Palace is highly protected, so that's one possibility. When we were searching for the amulets to power the Rainbow Bridge, we encountered a number of other protected locations, so there certainly could be more."

“I think you've hit upon the truth of things,” Lilia states. “Yes, those elves who first settled here in the Sylvan Realm would have fully explored it before deciding to place their towns and the Palace of the Elfin King or Queen. The palace is also coupled with the Elfin School of Magic. What better place to examine an ancient artifact then to place the School of Magic on top of it? We can surmise that the same thorny growth that kept us out of the palace also exists around the Pillar Artifact. If Argent is correct and when used the artifact clears the landing area, then the thorns would be gone from it. But they would still be all around it and would rapidly grow back, possibly slaying anyone who lingered to long. Such a situation would explain why the humans were looking to find the arrival point, because it is otherwise blocked to them. Yet another reason to explore the palace and the school as soon as we are able.”


Next morning it is discovered that Talen has gone off on a griffon. Lilia sends Laucian, Lia and Andlin after him.

Hearing his name called, Laucian grabs his gear, dawns his quiver, bow and sword. “Let us hope we can catch him before something else does.”

Kylie turns a looks out to the north. "Oh Talen, what have you gotten yourself into this time..."

Lilia shrugs helplessly while she stores her bedroll and gets ready to move on from the Tall Tower. She has no idea what is going on with Talen. Lilia has heard of Argent's aversion to griffons the night before and there is no guarantee that the griffons would let a human ride them anyway. Thinking back, Lilia cannot recall Sherwood riding a griffon while retrieving the medallions to release the Mother Tree. The test when it comes to Myev is a complete failure. The griffon lunges at the scro trying to attack her! Lilia steps before the griffon and commands it to stop. Thankfully, the large animal does just that.

“How did you tame such savage beasts?” A fearful Myev wonders from a safe distance.

“Our ancestors did,” Lilia explains in orcish. “They tamed the griffons and bred them understand elvish and never harm one of the All-Father's blood. They are magnificent creatures and a fearsome foe.”

It is clear that they have another problem. Neither Argent nor Myev can ride the griffins. Kylie has one Fly spell that she memorized for Argent, but she forgot to consider Myev. Turning to Lilia, she asks, "Lilia, do you have any Fly spells? I memorized one for Argent, but didn't think about needing one for Myev. Plus, I'm not sure that one spell will get us all the way to the ship. I might be able to carry Argent, but haven't actually tried carrying an adult so I don't know if that will work."

“I have two in memory,” Lilia says in regards of Fly spells. “So I can cast one on Myev. I also have a Strength spell in memory and can cast it upon you if you think it will help. Are you okay flying with them while I go on ahead? It seems best to keep our guests away from the griffons for now. I'll ride one griffon and tell the other to follow me. Join us further north when you are able.”

Assuming that Kylie agrees, Lilia will cast the spells as discussed and then ride a griffon to the north after that others pursuing Talen.

[Argent]

Argent:

"That's great! And once we get your spell-books and equipment back, you'll be ready for anything."

“Better prepared at any rate,” Argent wryly adds.

"I'm glad you didn't give up, Argent," Kylie says, giving her friend a hug.

Argent returns the hug, happy to finally have someone to converse with. “I was close,” Argent admits. “In fact Kharyna played a big role in my staying. I was all set to leave and was heading back to my room when I saw Kharyna out on the balcony in the snow without a coat on. At that time I didn't know her past or that she doesn't feel the cold. I ended up grabbing my coat with the intentions of telling her goodbye. Instead we just talked for hours and I learned more about her then I knew before. The things that she went through put my, by comparison, pathetic troubles easier to bear. It was after that the things started to go my way and my training began in earnest. We became friends after that and here we are today.”

"Trust me, it comes and goes..." Kylie says with a chuckle. It feels good to be joking and laughing with her friend again.

“At least you have it once in a while,” Argent adds. “That's something.”

"Me?" Kylie asks, blushing, with a hint of deer-in-the-headlights in her eyes. "Uh... Well, I rather like that young guy, Talen, that you met earlier. And I think he likes me a bit, but nothing super-romantic has developed as of yet. Not sure if either of us is ready for that right now..."

“He is cute,” Argent agrees. “Didn't someone say that he was related to Sherwood and Jallarzi? Must be awfully smart too.”

"Yeah, that seemed odd to me too. Perhaps some kind of magical effect, either native to this type of stone, or maybe the magical properties were all imbued by the Elders?" Kylie isn't the scholar that Lilia and Argent are, but she is a fair student and rather inquisitive.

“The stone is enchanted,” Lilia states. “I checked for that back at Blood Stone Peak. It is possible that it holds other enchantments beyond the ones we have been able to determine thus far.”

“I figured as much,” Argent agrees. “Whatever the process used to create this stone, it must have been simple for the Elders to have made so much of it. An entire city of it from the looks of it.”

"Ouch!" Kylie seems to wince at the thought. "I see what you mean. I was thinking more along the lines of being teleported into the middle of a bug-men army, but just about anything is possible, I guess."

“That would not be pleasant either,” Argent concurs. “It could be even worse. What if the arrival formation was underwater? Buried or in lava? Nasty situations all the way around.”

"Moorkroft is a human wizard from the lands east of the Sylvan Realm who attempted to take over the Realm and become immortal. We had to kill him to free the Mother Tree.' Kylie pauses to think for a second. "The Elvin Palace is highly protected, so that's one possibility. When we were searching for the amulets to power the Rainbow Bridge, we encountered a number of other protected locations, so there certainly could be more."

“We mages can become very powerful,” Argent notes. “Then you have this psychopaths like this Moorkroft and Keln and others of their ilk that give the rest of us a bad name.”

“I think you've hit upon the truth of things,” Lilia states. “Yes, those elves who first settled here in the Sylvan Realm would have fully explored it before deciding to place their towns and the Palace of the Elfin King or Queen. The palace is also coupled with the Elfin School of Magic. What better place to examine an ancient artifact then to place the School of Magic on top of it? We can surmise that the same thorny growth that kept us out of the palace also exists around the Pillar Artifact. If Argent is correct and when used the artifact clears the landing area, then the thorns would be gone from it. But they would still be all around it and would rapidly grow back, possibly slaying anyone who lingered to long. Such a situation would explain why the humans were looking to find the arrival point, because it is otherwise blocked to them. Yet another reason to explore the palace and the school as soon as we are able.”

Argent listens to this Lilia's thoughts. “An elfin school of magic? I like the sounds of that. Might be some interesting spells to be found there. What you suggest does sound reasonable and would provide the protection needed.”

“I do wonder what a Chiliz looked like,” Lilia says. “Were they humanoid like us or something all together different? I suppose that we'll never know.”

“While we may not know what they looked like,” Argent states, “we can make some educated guesses. For instance, the ceilings in this tower are around 12' high, so an Elder should be shorter than that. The openings into these chambers are a little lower, about 11' if I were to guess, so maybe an elder was 10' tall? But the stairs are spaced comfortably for someone of my size, so they might be the size of humans and just like a lot of headroom. Having stairs and an open central shaft seems to suggest that some Elders have to walk and others can fly or maybe levitate. But beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.”

“Most enemies are not as dangerous to us,” Lilia notes. “To those trained to fight them. But to those who cannot fight them, I imagine that they are lethal.”

“I don't know about that,” Argent replies. “That white dragon I ran into was pretty dangerous.”


Next morning, Argent is waking up from a nice, restful sleep. But something seems to have happened while slumbering.

Hearing Argent's question, Kylie goes over to her. "You know that guy I mentioned last night, Talen? The idiot has gone off by himself! What can he be thinking?!"

“Gone off where?” Argent wonders. “To the ship?”

Argent nibbles some breakfast while Kylie and Lilia get ready to move. The others seem gone already. Much to Argent's surprise there is a griffon right outside the sleeping chamber!

“I'll stay here,” Argent volunteers.

The beast snaps at Myev and she wisely retreats back to the sleeping room. Argent just shakes her head “no” at Myev. “You don't want to mess with that.”

Kylie and Lilia discuss casting spells.

“I have two in memory,” Lilia says in regards of Fly spells. “So I can cast one on Myev. I also have a Strength spell in memory and can cast it upon you if you think it will help. Are you okay flying with them while I go on ahead? It seems best to keep our guests away from the griffons for now. I'll ride one griffon and tell the other to follow me. Join us further north when you are able.”

“Thank you,” Argent tells Lilia. “For everything. We should be fine on our own. I haven't seen much in the way of flying creatures up here before.”

Once we are ready to go, Argent will accept the Fly spell and will follow Kylie to the north and the ship beyond.

[GM Mad]

Post Continued:

December 1st, CR 571 or Deepnight 23rd, 20,519 AP

A new day has dawned in Shillesta, the Elder name for the city to the north of the Sylvan Realm. With the coming of the light of day it is discovered that Talen took off on a griffon, no doubt trying to discover what had been calling him the day before. Laucian, Lia and the Andlin all fly off after him on griffons.

That leaves Kylie and Lilia behind along with Argent and Myev. The latter two are not related to elves and the griffons are hostile towards them. Argent doesn't attempt go near them out of her own fear for griffons, but Myev did try to get closer and had to rapidly retreat when it lunged at her. Myev wonders how the elves tamed such a wild beast.

“Our ancestors did,” Lilia explains in orcish. “They tamed the griffons and bred them understand elvish and never harm one of the All-Father's blood. They are magnificent creatures and a fearsome foe.”

“Amazing!” is all that Myev can say.

Kylie casts a Fly spell on Argent while Lilia puts one on Myev. Lilia then offers to cast Strength on Kylie and awaits her answer. After that, Lilia rides one of the two remaining griffons and tells the other one to follow. In short order Lilia is flying off to the north in pursuit of the the others. Lilia can see Laucian and his griffon off in the distance. The Queen of the Sylvan Realm directs the griffons to fly off in that direction.

Once ready, Kylie, Argent and Myev start to begin their own flight. Argent tries to explain how to Fly to Myev using their crude communication system of gestures. Kylie is able to fill in some of the blanks by speaking Elfish. The trio take flight. Kylie is an old hand at this by now and this Argent has used the spell enough to be comfortable with it. Myev is a different story as it is magic that she has no encountered before. She's very unsteady and ungraceful, but quickly starts to get the hang of it. Once in the air, the trio start to heading north. They can easily see Lilia riding a griffon up ahead of them and she is pulling away. Laucian's group is much further ahead by now and Talen is only a distant dot.

[GM Mad]

A little while later and further up ahead, Laucian, Lia and Andlin see Talen land. About fifteen minutes later they land by his griffon. Laucian looks around to pick up Talen's trail.

“Let us get him and move from here. The Scro probably saw us in the distance. Perhaps they will come to investigate.”

“We have time,” Andlin will announce. “We are still miles away from the ship. We perhaps have as much as an hour before they'll reach us if they hurry.”

Off in the distance what sounds like Talen screaming is heard. Lia calls out to him and Laucian urges her to stay silent so as to not alert any enemies in the area. Laucian takes the lead followed by Lia with Andlin bringing up the rear. Fortunately, there is some snow in this area, so Talen's footprints are easy to follow.

Laucian rapidly leads the group around large rocks and boulders and piles of rubble that must have been Elder buildings in the distant past. At some point you duck under some debris held up by rocks and find yourself inside an mostly intact Elder Building. It's large rectangular building with a high vaulted ceiling. The entire building is open wide, there is essentially just one large room.

Laucian immediately spots Talen close by, perhaps forty feet away. He's standing before a wide four sided column that is perhaps ten feet thick. At about six feet up from the ground a stone-like projection has emerged from the column and it has wrapped around Talen's head! His hands are frantically hitting the stone projection as if trying to get it off of him!

Upon seeing this, Laucian runs to help Talen. Before follower of Ehlonna can reach Talen, the stone-like projection releases Talen and recoils into the thick column like some kind of stone snake retreating into its lair! Talen stands there for a few seconds and then collapses to the ground and is unconscious.

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

Talen shows no visible signs of being injured, but you cannot wake him. Nothing else is in the area.

Lilia is about fifteen minutes away from landing her griffon where everyone else did. From this vantage point she can see that the Scro have noted their presence and leaving the ship to come after the elves. But they are still about five miles away and there is no straight path through the ruins to reach this point, so it will take them some time to get there.

The griffon ride from the Tall Tower to where Talen landed took about an hour and covered about five miles. Kylie, Argent and Myev are moving much slower then the griffon riders. It'll take them about an hour and half to reach the spot where Talen landed. Fortunately the Fly spells should last long enough. At the point where the post ends they are half way there, so have another 45 minutes of flying to go.

Now what?

[Kylie]

Kylie:

Argent returns the hug, happy to finally have someone to converse with. “I was close,” Argent admits. “In fact Kharyna played a big role in my staying. I was all set to leave and was heading back to my room when I saw Kharyna out on the balcony in the snow without a coat on. At that time I didn't know her past or that she doesn't feel the cold. I ended up grabbing my coat with the intentions of telling her goodbye. Instead we just talked for hours and I learned more about her then I knew before. The things that she went through put my, by comparison, pathetic troubles easier to bear. It was after that the things started to go my way and my training began in earnest. We became friends after that and here we are today.”

"I never knew Kharyna very well" Kylie admits. "She graduated fairly soon after I arrived. She seemed to be very talented. I wonder how she is faring now?"

“He is cute,” Argent agrees. “Didn't someone say that he was related to Sherwood and Jallarzi? Must be awfully smart too.”

"Yeah, apparently he and Lia are cousins of one sort or another to the Sallavarians. I've never been entirely sure of the exact relationship, but I think it has to do with their grandmother."

“I am sure that the Lady Sallavarian and Lord Sharadin would be most interested in what we have uncovered up here,” Lilia notes. “They may wish to set up an embassy here in the Sylvan Realm in your proposed area. They might even help in its construction.”

Kylie nods. "I would welcome any help or advice they care to provide."

“Me? Beautiful?” Lilia repeats in surprise. “I never thought much about my own looks. I grew up either training to fight orcs with bow, blade and spells or I had my nose in a book. But, as you noted, a more regal appearance might be necessary at times.”

Kylie shakes her head. "Yes, you. As a ruler, you may need to learn how to use your looks to your advantage, even if that doesn't suit your natural inclinations."

“I figured as much,” Argent agrees. “Whatever the process used to create this stone, it must have been simple for the Elders to have made so much of it. An entire city of it from the looks of it.”

"That along with the teleportation pillars makes you wonder what else the Elders were capable of. Do you think all of their power centered around stone?" Kylie asks.

“That would not be pleasant either,” Argent concurs. “It could be even worse. What if the arrival formation was underwater? Buried or in lava? Nasty situations all the way around.”

Kylie just nods in agreement. She shivers slightly as her various unpleasant scenarios flit through her mind.

Argent listens to this Lilia's thoughts. “An elfin school of magic? I like the sounds of that. Might be some interesting spells to be found there. What you suggest does sound reasonable and would provide the protection needed.”

Kylie lights up a bit at the suggestion. "We had already discussed the idea that exploring the Elfin Palace should be our next priority after returning. I would be glad to have your company on the trip, Argent, as long as the elves don't object."

“I will do all that I can, Kylie.” He says with a reassuring smile. “If I can track him there is hope.”

"Thank you," Kylie replies softly.

“Gone off where?” Argent wonders. “To the ship?”

Kylie shrugs. "Toward the ship, but whether or not that is his destination, I don't know," Kylie says, sounding just a bit helpless.

As they clean up their camp in preparation to head north, Kylie will load any extra gear onto the extra griffin. Best not to leave anything behind.

“I have two in memory,” Lilia says in regards of Fly spells. “So I can cast one on Myev. I also have a Strength spell in memory and can cast it upon you if you think it will help. Are you okay flying with them while I go on ahead? It seems best to keep our guests away from the griffons for now. I'll ride one griffon and tell the other to follow me. Join us further north when you are able.”

“Thank you,” Argent tells Lilia. “For everything. We should be fine on our own. I haven't seen much in the way of flying creatures up here before.”

"That sounds perfect, Lilia. That should enable me to carry them if necessary," Kylie replies. "Yes, we'll be fine on our own. The three of us will join you as soon as we can."

Kylie stands still to receive the spell from the queen, then waves as Lilia departs. Turning and rising a few inches into the air, she looks at Argent and Myev. "Well ladies, are you ready?"

Once ready, Kylie, Argent and Myev start to begin their own flight. Argent tries to explain how to Fly to Myev using their crude communication system of gestures. Kylie is able to fill in some of the blanks by speaking Elfish. The trio take flight. Kylie is an old hand at this by now and this Argent has used the spell enough to be comfortable with it. Myev is a different story as it is magic that she has no encountered before. She's very unsteady and ungraceful, but quickly starts to get the hang of it. Once in the air, the trio start to heading north. They can easily see Lilia riding a griffon up ahead of them and she is pulling away. Laucian's group is much further ahead by now and Talen is only a distant dot.

Kylie will do her best to help Myev get used to flying, going so far as to take her by the hand and provide guidance and stability until the scro gets more comfortable in the air. Kylie's concern for Talen is never far from her mind, and she works to get everyone flying in the right direction at best possible speed as quickly as possible.

Watching Lilia and the other griffin get farther and farther ahead fills Kylie with mixed feelings. She is glad and hopeful that her friends will get there soon to help him and find out what he's up to. And yet she is dismayed that she cannot be there for him. He had better be okay, or she doesn't know what she will do!

Trying to take her mind off her worries, Kylie flies over beside Myev. "Myev? You mentioned that you trained as a spell-caster. Can you tell us about your magical skills? Did you specialize in a particular type of magic, or are you more of a generalist? Do you have spell-books somewhere?" Kylie really hopes that Myev's spell-books are not buried back there in the tower.

_______________________________________________________________________
Sorry, I meant to post last night, but never quite got to it.

[Lilia]

Lilia:

Kylie shakes her head. "Yes, you. As a ruler, you may need to learn how to use your looks to your advantage, even if that doesn't suit your natural inclinations."

“But I am not a ruler, at least in the human sense of the word,” Lilia notes. “Do not forget that my position and what humans call royalty are different. I speak for the Sylvan Realm in matters beyond her borders. Nothing else.”

Argent listens to this Lilia's thoughts. “An elfin school of magic? I like the sounds of that. Might be some interesting spells to be found there. What you suggest does sound reasonable and would provide the protection needed.”

Kylie lights up a bit at the suggestion. "We had already discussed the idea that exploring the Elfin Palace should be our next priority after returning. I would be glad to have your company on the trip, Argent, as long as the elves don't object."

“That might be problematic,” Lilia states. “Non-elves were barred from the Elfholds. Even half-elves were kept away. Only those who had the Elf-friend designation were allowed beyond Alfheim Town. Having said that, I do now see the wisdom of allowing select individuals within our borders. We elves cannot simply hide in our forests any longer and ignore the rest of the world. We need to be more involved. I have no issue with Argent going such an exploration, but others may.

“While we may not know what they looked like,” Argent states, “we can make some educated guesses. For instance, the ceilings in this tower are around 12' high, so an Elder should be shorter than that. The openings into these chambers are a little lower, about 11' if I were to guess, so maybe an elder was 10' tall? But the stairs are spaced comfortably for someone of my size, so they might be the size of humans and just like a lot of headroom. Having stairs and an open central shaft seems to suggest that some Elders have to walk and others can fly or maybe levitate. But beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.”

“That still leaves a lot of unknown information,” Lilia agrees.

“Thank you,” Argent tells Lilia. “For everything. We should be fine on our own. I haven't seen much in the way of flying creatures up here before.”

“That is good,” Lilia replies. "There should be little danger then."

"That sounds perfect, Lilia. That should enable me to carry them if necessary," Kylie replies. "Yes, we'll be fine on our own. The three of us will join you as soon as we can."

Lilia casts Strength on Kylie and then departs on the back of a griffon after telling the other griffon to follow along. She can make out the others off in the distance and Talen just barely. Talen soon lands and the others follow suit. Lilia tries to keep an eye on Laucian as he leads the others through the ruins after Talen. She hopes to be able to land closer to where ever they are going.

[Argent]

Argent:

"I never knew Kharyna very well" Kylie admits. "She graduated fairly soon after I arrived. She seemed to be very talented. I wonder how she is faring now?"

“She graduated about a month after you arrived,” Argent says. '”I was there with her for about five months. Kharyna was an interesting and powerful woman. She was already a Priestess of Mystra before seeking out mage training from Jallarzi. She had some wonderful magic items and jewelry. I can only imagine that she's added to her collection since the last time I saw her. She helped me learn Alphatian.”

"That along with the teleportation pillars makes you wonder what else the Elders were capable of. Do you think all of their power centered around stone?" Kylie asks.

“They could have had many other artifacts and powers available to them,” Argent suggests. “I think that all that has survived is the stone and the pillars. Anything else might no longer exist.”

Kylie lights up a bit at the suggestion. "We had already discussed the idea that exploring the Elfin Palace should be our next priority after returning. I would be glad to have your company on the trip, Argent, as long as the elves don't object."

“Sounds like fun!” Argent agrees.

“That might be problematic,” Lilia states. “Non-elves were barred from the Elfholds. Even half-elves were kept away. Only those who had the Elf-friend designation were allowed beyond Alfheim Town. Having said that, I do now see the wisdom of allowing select individuals within our borders. We elves cannot simply hide in our forests any longer and ignore the rest of the world. We need to be more involved. I have no issue with Argent going such an exploration, but others may.”

“I had heard tales that the elf lands were closed to outsiders,” Argent states. “I guess those were just more than stories. I have to assume that the elves had their reasons for wanting such privacy.”

Kylie stands still to receive the spell from the queen, then waves as Lilia departs. Turning and rising a few inches into the air, she looks at Argent and Myev. "Well ladies, are you ready?"

“More than ready to get out of this place,” Argents says enthusiastically. “I'll be good to fly again.”

Argent tries to help Myev get used to the Fly spell but it appears that she is unfamiliar with the spell. Myev is a terrible flier at least at first. But Argent wasn't much better her first time around either. During the flight, Kylie stays close to Myev and they seem to be conversing, but Argent doesn't understand elvish. Oh, only if she still had her magical earrings!

[Laucian]

Laucian

“We have time,” Andlin will announce. “We are still miles away from the ship. We perhaps have as much as an hour before they'll reach us if they hurry.”

Laucian looks back at Andlin, “I have some experience with Spell engines. If it is anything like the ship that took us to the Slyvain realm than we should move with haste. They can move large distances in short periods of time.”

Laucian immediately spots Talen close by, perhaps forty feet away. He's standing before a wide four sided column that is perhaps ten feet thick. At about six feet up from the ground a stone-like projection has emerged from the column and it has wrapped around Talen's head! His hands are frantically hitting the stone projection as if trying to get it off of him!.

Laucian sees the stone appendage wrap around Talen’s head as he franticly beats his arms against it. Laucian takes off running as the stone suddenly pulls back. Talen stands for a few seconds then drops to the ground.

“Talen!” Laucian keeps an eye on the column as he moves close to Talen’s side.

A cloud of snow an dirt is kicked up when he comes to a stop, “Andlin, stand guard as I pull Talen back from the Pillar.”

Looking at Lia, He can’t help but feel for her. “He’ll be okay.”Laucian says as he begins checking vitals. If he feels it is necessary he will burn an endure cold and cast a healing spell on Talen.

[Lia]

Lia

“I know of your concern for your brother, But if you want to help him remain quiet. We do not know what dwells here.”

“Easy for you to say. It’s not your brother who is screaming!” she growls through gritted teeth her lavender eyes igniting with controlled anger and rage.

For a moment she wants to leave the others far behind running to the screams but Laucian’s words strike home. She doesn’t know what holds him or what maybe waiting for them. Lia follows Laucian and coming to a clearing she sees Talen with something stone looking upon his head.

“Talen!”she screams as she runs forward with Laucian.

Lia pushes Laucian out of the way and checks his vitals, thankfully he is unconscious. Lia looks to Laucian as he begins to cast a spell, “No, Cover us with your bow. I’ll see to my brother.”

Mutterin how stupid and reckless Talen is she slaps his face a few times trying to wake him. “By Eilistrae you better wake up.” Her eyes begin to water as she continue to wake him shaking him when she can. Taking out her waterskin she splashes water on her brother.

“Please wake up,” she cries.

[GM Mad]

Post Continued:

December 1st, CR 571 or Deepnight 23rd, 20,519 AP

Talen has been found! Whatever he heard the day before has lead him to a somewhat intact building among the ruins to the north of the Tall Tower. This area is below the plateau where the orcs made their home. It's a similar level to the dock further to the north. The city in this area has taken far more damage then above. Most of the buildings have collapsed and rock and rubble litter the landscape forming almost a maze to those on the ground.

Laucian looks back at Andlin, “I have some experience with Spell Engines. If it is anything like the ship that took us to the Sylvan realm than we should move with haste. They can move large distances in short periods of time.”

Andlin simply acknowledges his understanding and follows with his sword and shield at the ready.

Laucian finds Talen's path in the dirt and snow and follows him into a fairly well intact building. This building is essentially one large room and in it a several large four sided columns. Talen stands before one such column and something looks like stone snake has emerged from the column and settled over his head! Talen struggles with the stone, trying to remove it to no avail.

As Laucian and Lia run towards Talen the stone appendage 'recoils' back into the column! Talen stands there for a few seconds, seemingly in a daze, and then he crumbles to the ground.

A cloud of snow an dirt is kicked up when he comes to a stop, “Andlin, stand guard as I pull Talen back from the Pillar.”

Once he catches up, Andlin stops and turns his back to the others as he guards the path they just took to reach this area. “None shall pass me,” Andlin vows.

Laucian reaches Talen first and finds that he is alive, but unconscious. There does not appear to be any physical injuries to Talen. Laucian moves Talen a little bit before Lia pushes him away. She tries to waken Talen first with light slaps to the face and then with water, but he does not stir.

Laucian draws his bow and takes a better look around. There are six of these large stone columns in this area and they all look alike. Strange but incomprehensible writing is noted on them. What does stand out to Talen is that there is a circle engraved in the column where the 'stone snake' came from. There is a matching circle on each of the four sides of the column and widely varying heights. The circles are at two feet high, four feet high, six feet high and nine feet high. All the other columns match this pattern.

Time passes slowly and Talen does not wake. So far no scro have reached this area. Yet.

[GM Mad]

Elsewhere, Lilia continues to get closer to where the other griffons landed. She can see Laucian and those with him move deeper into the ruins from the clearing where the griffons landed. However they are soon lost from sight among the builders and debris.

Of more concern is the sight of seeing the scro leave the ship and moving on shore upon seeing the elves on griffons. The scro move quickly, but not as fast as a griffon. Plus they have navigate their way through the ruins to even reach this area which will slow their progress.

Finally, Lilia arrives at where the griffons landed, but no one else is around. At this point Lilia can hear Lia frantic about Talen wishing him to wake up. This is coming from the general direction that Laucian took when they landed. Some footprints can be seen in the snow.


Much further back, Kylie, Argent and Myev trail after the others thanks to Fly spells. This mode of travel is slower than riding a griffon, but the griffons are not friendly to non-elves. The trio fly high enough to pass over anything on the ground.

Trying to take her mind off her worries, Kylie flies over beside Myev. "Myev? You mentioned that you trained as a spell-caster. Can you tell us about your magical skills? Did you specialize in a particular type of magic, or are you more of a generalist? Do you have spell-books somewhere?" Kylie really hopes that Myev's spell-books are not buried back there in the tower.

“I taught myself mostly,” Myev answers. “Among the scro physical might is what they valued so only the weak learned magic. I'm not strong nor was I skilled enough to be a priest, so they directed me to learn magic. I learned a few spells from various sources, but their usefulness seemed limited. But my skill allowed me to work the flying ship, so that gave me some worth in the eyes of the elders.”

“What is a specialist? Or a generalist? What is the difference? My spell books are on the ship. I rarely cast any spells as they don't seem to be that useful, so I don't need to have them with me.”

By now Kylie can see that Lilia has reached the others griffons. Much further north the scro from the ship are on the move, but are still comfortably far enough away.

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

Laucian, Lia and Andlin have found Talen, but he is still out cold. There are no threats in their area.

Lilia has reached where the griffons were left at and can see the scro further north. She can hear Lia's cries while trying to wake Talen.

Kylie and company are still about half an hour away from reach the area where the griffons landed. They can also see the scro further to the north.

It's clear to Kylie that Myev had no formal mage training and is essentially self-taught. What few spells she has were taken from various spell books the Bloody Dagger tribe had captured. Based on her reactions, she's never seen a Magic Missile or a Fly spell before.

Now what?

[Kylie]

Kylie:

“But I am not a ruler, at least in the human sense of the word,” Lilia notes. “Do not forget that my position and what humans call royalty are different. I speak for the Sylvan Realm in matters beyond her borders. Nothing else.”

Kylie takes a deep breath to give herself a moment to think. "Okay, that was a bad choice of words on my part. Sorry. However, it doesn't really matter whether or not you are a 'ruler' in whatever sense of the word. What matters is that you are now the representative of your people to the rest of the world. And considering the elven lifespan, you likely will be for a very long time. Once the rest of the world learns of the restoration of the Sylvan Realm, they will start sending ambassadors and diplomats of all types. They will be coming to see you, and they will all want something.

"I grew up in a very unpleasant place, and I learned a lot about just how sneaky and underhanded people can be in trying to get what they want. Dealing with all of that will be your job, so you will need to be ready for that. I doubt it will be easy, and you will likely need every advantage you can muster, which is where your appearance comes in."

“That might be problematic,” Lilia states. “Non-elves were barred from the Elfholds. Even half-elves were kept away. Only those who had the Elf-friend designation were allowed beyond Alfheim Town. Having said that, I do now see the wisdom of allowing select individuals within our borders. We elves cannot simply hide in our forests any longer and ignore the rest of the world. We need to be more involved. I have no issue with Argent going such an exploration, but others may."

"We will have to see what happens when we return, and deal with it then," Kylie says. "In the meantime, I'm going to hope for the best."

“They could have had many other artifacts and powers available to them,” Argent suggests. “I think that all that has survived is the stone and the pillars. Anything else might no longer exist.”

"That makes sense," Kylie admits. "I suppose the warmth emitted by the stone may imply some fire magic, as well. We really don't know what all they were able to do, but it is interesting to think about."

“More than ready to get out of this place,” Argents says enthusiastically. “I'll be good to fly again.”

Kylie smiles at her friend, enjoying seeing her enthusiasm after the emotional turmoil of the previous evening. "Then let's go!" Of course, it isn't really that easy, as it takes Myev a while to get the hang of flying. But eventually she does just that, and is able to maintain reasonably stable flight on her own.

“I taught myself mostly,” Myev answers. “Among the scro, physical might is what they valued so only the weak learned magic. I'm not strong nor was I skilled enough to be a priest, so they directed me to learn magic. I learned a few spells from various sources, but their usefulness seemed limited. But my skill allowed me to work the flying ship, so that gave me some worth in the eyes of the elders.”

“What is a specialist? Or a generalist? What is the difference? My spell books are on the ship. I rarely cast any spells as they don't seem to be that useful, so I don't need to have them with me.”

As Myev talks, Kylie comes to realize just how little the scro woman knows of magic. She is essentially self-taught, and apparently only knows a few spells. On the other hand, being self-taught also means that she may have discovered magic that others may not be familiar with.

"There are a number of different types or 'schools' of magic. A specialist is someone who has a particular talent or preference for a particular school of magic. Thus, they tend to be more skilled at casting those types of spells than other types, and may not be able to cast certain other types of spells at all. For example, spells from the school of Alteration come easiest to me, so I am known as a 'Transmuter'. On the other hand, a generalist is someone who has no particular specialty and whose skill is roughly equal across all schools of magic.

"Once we all have our spell-books and some time available, we may want to discuss in more detail, and perhaps even share spells."

As they continue to fly north, Kylie keeps an eye on Lilia for as long as she is able. Eventually, she sees Lilia start to descend, which means that is probably where the others landed. It seems to be only half-way or so to the ship. Kylie can just make out people moving south from the ship toward where Lilia appears to be landing, so that is probably the other scro from the ship coming to investigate. Kylie points these things out to both Argent and Myev.

[Lilia]

Lilia:

Kylie takes a deep breath to give herself a moment to think. "Okay, that was a bad choice of words on my part. Sorry. However, it doesn't really matter whether or not you are a 'ruler' in whatever sense of the word. What matters is that you are now the representative of your people to the rest of the world. And considering the elven lifespan, you likely will be for a very long time. Once the rest of the world learns of the restoration of the Sylvan Realm, they will start sending ambassadors and diplomats of all types. They will be coming to see you, and they will all want something.”

As Lilia listens to Kylie speak her mouth starts to open in surprise at what she is hearing. “I--,” Lilia starts to say and then stops to gather her thoughts. “I had not considered that point of view. I had imagined that my role would be like it is now-- to go and explore and solve problems either with words or more permanent methods. I also have to wonder just what I have gotten myself into.”

"I grew up in a very unpleasant place, and I learned a lot about just how sneaky and underhanded people can be in trying to get what they want. Dealing with all of that will be your job, so you will need to be ready for that. I doubt it will be easy, and you will likely need every advantage you can muster, which is where your appearance comes in."

“It sounds to me that I would need an adviser who specialized in the 'sneaky and underhanded' on my side,” Lilia says with a smile. “Know anyone who could take on that kind of job?”

“I had heard tales that the elf lands were closed to outsiders,” Argent states. “I guess those were just more than stories. I have to assume that the elves had their reasons for wanting such privacy."

“We do,” Lilia states. “While such a policy has served us well for a long time, I do wonder if it is time for change. For a race that lives as long as we do, change does not happen fast or come easy. Slights that happened hundreds of years ago are still fresh in an elf's mind even when those responsible are long gone.”


Lilia slows and hovers her griffon over the area where the other griffons are waiting. She'll tell the other griffon to land and wait here until the other return. Urging her griffon into the air once more, Lilia tries to fly closer to where she can hear Lia. The Elf Maiden quickly spots Andlin on guard duty. Lilia lands her griffon and makes her way towards the armored elf.

“It's just me, Andlin,” Lilia calls out to warn him.

Moving past Andlin, Lilia can see Lia hold a prone Talen while Laucian stands guard. Lilia moves up to Laucian and asks, “What happened?”

[Argent]

Argent:

"That makes sense," Kylie admits. "I suppose the warmth emitted by the stone may imply some fire magic, as well. We really don't know what all they were able to do, but it is interesting to think about."

“I was just thankful that it keep everything warm enough to survive,” Argent notes. “As if this place wasn't horrid enough, imagine it with warmth!”

“We do,” Lilia states. “While such a policy has served us well for a long time, I do wonder if it is time for change. For a race that lives as long as we do, change does not happen fast or come easy. Slights that happened hundreds of years ago are still fresh in an elf's mind even when those responsible are long gone.”

“You're right,” Argent agrees. “I can't comprehend what its like to live that long. There are elves that are older then Cynalon!”

As they continue to fly north, Kylie keeps an eye on Lilia for as long as she is able. Eventually, she sees Lilia start to descend, which means that is probably where the others landed. It seems to be only half-way or so to the ship. Kylie can just make out people moving south from the ship toward where Lilia appears to be landing, so that is probably the other scro from the ship coming to investigate. Kylie points these things out to both Argent and Myev.

“I see them,” Argent calls out. “I've got plenty of Magic Missiles just waiting for them!”

[Laucian]

Laucian

Laucian begins to see to Talen as he gets pushed out of the way. His free hand goes to a dagger but he steadies his hand as he realizes just who pushed him and why. “I’ll see to our safety then.” He says as he sees Lia look to her brother.

Scanning the area, Laucian does not see much in the way of threats but his eyes linger on the pillars for a moment as a symbol is made out on a few of them. Laucian looks back at Talen pushing his red hair from his face. “Could it be?”

There are six of these large stone columns in this and they all look alike. Strange but incomprehensible writing is noted on them. What does stand out to Laucian is that there is a circle engraved in the column where the 'stone snake' came from. There is a matching circle on each of the four sides of the column and widely varying heights. The circles are at two feet high, four feet high, six feet high and nine feet high. All the other columns match this pattern.

Laucian looks at the columns and then to Lia and Talen. Several moments pass as he makes his way about seeing no threats.

“It's just me, Andlin,” Lilia calls out to warn him.

Moving past Andlin, Lilia can see Lia hold a prone Talen while Laucian stands guard. Lilia moves up to Laucian and asks, “What happened?”

Laucian hears his queen’s call and looks in her direction. As she moves past Andlin and approaches she asks what transpired, “In truth I am not sure. A great stone snake attacked Talen from there.”he says pointing, “It let him go and he has been as you seen him for sometime. Lia has been trying to wake him. There is a marks that is similar on the pillars and some writing I do not know.” He says looking to Lilia, “It is vexing, but I can’t help but wonder if Talen brought this on himself. Perhaps accidently activating these pillars?”

Laucian will have a look around and see how many ways in and out there are. If he can he will get to higher ground so that he can better protect the others with his bow.

[Lia]

Lia

Pushing Laucian out of the way, Lia checks her brothers vitals. He is breathing so Lia begins to lightly slap her brother. Getting no answer Lia pulls forth her wineskin and pours water on his face. Still the shock of the water does little to stir him from his slumber.

Lia cradles Talen’s head making him comfortable all the while crying for her brother to wake up.

“Why couldn’t you have told me. I would have come with you.” Lia says tears streaming down her face as she looks about to the others. Wiping her cheek, Lia looks to her brother again. Perhaps there is some sign on Talen’s skin that might give a clue as to what caused the snake to strike.

Lia will look Talen over for wounds and for marks. As well as where her brother had stepped. Perhaps that would give a clue to what he was doing and better yet what he summoned?

Lia is to engrossed with the well being of her brother to realize Lilia is there.

[Kylie]

Kylie:

As Lilia listens to Kylie speak her mouth starts to open in surprise at what she is hearing. “I--,” Lilia starts to say and then stops to gather her thoughts. “I had not considered that point of view. I had imagined that my role would be like it is now-- to go and explore and solve problems either with words or more permanent methods. I also have to wonder just what I have gotten myself into.”

Kylie watches as waves of emotion and comprehension wash across her friend's face. She nods, a somewhat grim yet sympathetic smile on her delicate features. "Yeah, exactly..."

“It sounds to me that I would need an adviser who specialized in the 'sneaky and underhanded' on my side,” Lilia says with a smile. “Know anyone who could take on that kind of job?”

"I just might at that," Kylie replies with a smirk, not entirely certain whether she's referring to herself or her mentor, Rat. Of course, Rat brings his own challenges. Then again, Sherra might actually be the best choice for such a position, though Kylie has no idea where the woman is these days.

“I was just thankful that it keep everything warm enough to survive,” Argent notes. “As if this place wasn't horrid enough, imagine it with warmth!”

Kylie nods. "I'd rather not, actually. Perhaps it implies that the Elders were susceptible to cold like we are, or had diplomatic relations with other races that were."

“We do,” Lilia states. “While such a policy has served us well for a long time, I do wonder if it is time for change. For a race that lives as long as we do, change does not happen fast or come easy. Slights that happened hundreds of years ago are still fresh in an elf's mind even when those responsible are long gone.”

“You're right,” Argent agrees. “I can't comprehend what its like to live that long. There are elves that are older then Cynalon!”

Kylie listens to the conversation between her friends, but chooses to stay out of it.

“I see them,” Argent calls out. “I've got plenty of Magic Missiles just waiting for them!”

Kylie smiles with just a touch of malice. "I'm sure they won't like the reception they receive - from any of us."

Eyeing the scro moving south to intercept the elven contingent, it suddenly dawns on Kylie that neither Argent nor Myev has any armor or magical protection! Since the Stoneskin that she had received from one of the elves back at the Mother Tree has worn off, Kylie had put on her Elven chainmail this morning. That leaves her with two options for her friends.

"We're about to fly into a battle, and neither of you have any defenses," Kylie says as she flies in between her companions. "I have a pair of magical Bracers, and a Stoneskin spell available. Perhaps I could loan the Bracers to you, Argent, until you get your gear back, and cast the spell on the you, Myev? Does that sounds like a good plan?"

[Lilia]

Lilia:

Kylie watches as waves of emotion and comprehension wash across her friend's face. She nods, a somewhat grim yet sympathetic smile on her delicate features. "Yeah, exactly..."

“Worries for another day,” Lilia decides after time. “There are more pressing issues to contend with right now.”

"I just might at that," Kylie replies with a smirk, not entirely certain whether she's referring to herself or her mentor, Rat. Of course, Rat brings his own challenges. Then again, Sherra might actually be the best choice for such a position, though Kylie has no idea where the woman is these days.

“Good,” is all that Lilia cryptically adds.

Further north in the ruined city...

Laucian hears his queen’s call and looks in her direction. As she moves past Andlin and approaches she asks what transpired, “In truth I am not sure. A great stone snake attacked Talen from there.”he says pointing, “It let him go and he has been as you seen him for sometime. Lia has been trying to wake him. There is a marks that is similar on the pillars and some writing I do not know.” He says looking to Lilia, “It is vexing, but I can’t help but wonder if Talen brought this on himself. Perhaps accidentally activating these pillars?”

“Presumably it's Elder writing,” Lilia says. “Given that this city was once theirs. A stone snake? How bizarre.”

Lilia contemplates the situation for a few moments. “The scro are on their way from the north on foot. Perhaps twenty to twenty five minutes out. We'll need to give them a proper greeting. Find a good archer's nest and ruin their day. “

“In the meantime, I'll examine these columns until our guests arrive,” Lilia continues. “While I am not the expert that Argent is on the Elder script I can read it. Perhaps it will provide some clue as to what happened to Talen.”

As she reads, Lilia keeps an eye on Lia and Talen. “I didn't see Talen after we ate last night with what went on with Argent,” Lilia says aloud, not sure if Lia is even listening or not. “Did he seem all right to you?”

[GM Mad]

Post Closed