Ebba walked through a blue portal ring from the town of Termily and stepped into a great hall. She walked the distance to the podium and set her pile of notes down.

“Tell us about Vina”, said the first of the twelve.

Ebba began her prepared report, “Vina is an eighteen year old woman. She came to our world via a blue shimmering portal without a ring. She arrived here without any knowledge of how our world operates. She has been performing at an extreme level of demand since the first day she arrived, alone, in the wilderness. She apparently was transported to the Six Eyed Prison we destroyed thirty years ago. During her escape, she found a cave nearby. Once there she recovered a runic lantern and a backpack. She also stumbled onto runes carved on a wall. She figured out how to activate those runes with her bleeding knuckles. From this experience, she learned a skill she calls Blood Runes. The skill seems to be very demanding on the body, mind, and emotions. I cannot find a reference to it in any of our books.”

Ebba paused to consult her notes, “Outwardly, Vina is healthy. Inwardly, Vina is traumatized. She is currently suffering from delusions that her blood runes and lantern are alive. She is also experiencing auditory hallucinations that the runes are whispering to her. When I managed to bring her out of her delusion, Vina broke down emotionally.”

The eighth of the twelve interrupted her, “Do we know her runes are not alive?”

Ebba took a deep breath, “No. We do not know. I did not perceive the lantern as living even after it was recharged and at no point in time did I hear it whisper.”

“You don’t have the blood runes skill though,” the eighth said confrontationally.

Ebba chose a diplomatic response, “That is true enough. There is no record in history of runes being powered or activated specifically with blood. We all know we use our divinity attribute to do that.” Ebba continued, “She has some ability to control the movement of blood that is free from a body, although she doesn’t know how she does it. The effect is very limited and only a short distance from her, perhaps three or four feet. She believes the lantern is doing it.”

“Does she have an Aspect?” said the first of the twelve again.

Ebba shook her head, “All examinations performed during her recovery showed no external jewelry, stones, or otherwise connected to her body.”

Ebba tried to continue her report as if she wasn’t interrupted, “Vina’s equipment is indicative of someone helping her. The armor she was wearing was created from Kaliter scales.”

Those of the twelve in attendance made some noise from that and Ebba pressed on over the din.

“The backpack she wore was not from this world. It seems it was brought here and a very skilled rune carver empowered it. The item is soulbound to Vina uniquely and it carries her name. By comparing the runes on the lantern and the backpack, it is clear they were made by the same individual. Vina holds a deep connection to the lantern, but not so much to the backpack. Her connection is so strong, she experiences emotional distress at being separated from it.”

The first spoke again, “This is an understandable reaction after having faced the darkness without being forewarned.”

The fourth followed up, “Were we able to access the backpack?”

Ebba shook her head, “The runes are carved at an extremely high level. Perhaps even at a grandmaster’s capability. The backpack would not allow us to examine its contents. The rune carvers we have on site were not able to read the runewords fully either. We were able to obtain samples of the handwriting, however. We cross checked the backpack runes and the runes on the lantern against our recordings of past rune carvers. The script is consistent with the well-known and long dead rune carver by the name of Priya. Priya is known to have two surviving daughters. However, we believed she moved them off world through some manner we do not understand. I suspect Vina is one such daughter.”

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There were mutters in the hall for a moment and Ebba tried to continu. She was, however, interrupted by the first of the twelve once again. “You mentioned Vina was under quite a bit of pressure since arriving. What happened to her?”

Ebba flipped through her notes, “Beyond the stress of surviving in the wilderness, Vina has fought spinerlings, at least one of which was possessed by The Darkness. According to the records we retrieved from Prosit, she arrived with moderate damage to one of her hands. This is consistent with her claim of learning Blood Runes with her bloody knuckles. Without a license, she began work as an adventurer and managed to kill six pilidar. Once again one was controlled by The Darkness. She also managed to rescue one child. After that she captured three bandits after only killing a fourth. She performed these tasks all while being under level five.”

Someone whistled, “She’s a natural born adventurer.”

Ebba hesitated and her formal tone dropped, “She’s more than that. Vina displays an innate understanding of rune carving despite being restricted to blood runes.”

She pulled out a glove from her armor and held it in front of herself. Its runes now glowed red, but they were fading. “I asked Vina to show me how she carved runes. She stuck with a standard script and carved out simple rune words. She wrote something that would seal away the on and off runewords. However, Vina paused on the final runeword. She took several moments before she wrote an additional runeword. When she demonstrated it to me, I figured out she had written the unseal blood runeword. It is clear to me she did not know this word and came up with it on the spot. This one...” Ebba pointed at the unseal runeword, “... is not a runeword we knew. It is a blood runeword and it is the first of its kind.”

Ebba put the glove down and continued, “After being exiled for her use of blood skills, Vina headed for the town of Termily. Just outside of its walls, she was attacked by a man being controlled by the shadow. According to Vina, the man exhibited acid-like abilities. She suffered numerous injuries and barely made it to safety. The damage to her armor and body corroborates these events. This is consistent with the one we know as Klarx, a knave who disappeared from Randar some years ago.”

“Tell us about her class.” said the first.

Ebba paused as she flipped through her notes once more “According to our examinations and to Vina’s own admittance, her class is a Blood Weaver.”

Before she could continue, someone gasped and the first hushed them.

“We have just two examples of blood weavers in our history. Both are dead by the seventh’s hand. Seventh, would you like to comment on their capabilities?”

Ebba paused, but she only received silence in return. She soon continued, “From what I could find, the class generally combines extreme maneuverability, avoidance, and prioritizes quick attacks. Their bleeding effects can quickly overwhelm an opponent if they are not controlled. Perhaps most interesting, the class is able to specialize a skill at every level. The benefits are so inconsistent they appear to be random, however.”

Ebba took a deep breath and said, “Given Vina’s ongoing mental and emotional traumas, my recommendation is to prioritize treatment through education, training, and counseling. This world is very alien to her. Gaining better knowledge and understanding may resolve her fear and help her process her experiences thus far. I believe the path of an Adventurer could suit her well eventually, but her connection to Priya requires us to keep an eye on her movements.”

Ebba lifted the gauntlet once more, “In the meantime, I would like to work with Vina to gain further documentation and knowledge on Blood Runes. This is a change to our world we have never seen before, and it would be best if we mastered it before any other faction. I believe if nurtured, Vina could become a very powerful ally to our cause.”

Ebba closed her book. “This concludes my report. Are there any questions?”

The twelfth stood and asked, “Were you able to charge that runeword with blood?”

Ebba sighed, “No. The gauntlet’s runes are dead to us. None of our runecarvers could charge it with neither blood nor divinity.”