Head Mage Damia sits back at the guild base, with something troubling her. She has been feeling uneasy since Sylvar and the rest of the troupe left 2 days ago. It worries her to no end because she cannot put her finger on the uneasiness. She knows that the Guild Portal is down, and the other Mages are working around the clock to fix the huge cracks in the Sapphire stone, and they are close to being done, but that she feels is not the cause of her disconcert. She decides to go to her private study, and to get the Oracle out, and ask it what may be going on, if it is the Darkness getting ready to strike-or Goddess forbid! - a shipment of bad fish getting ready to come in. She starts down the hallway of the lower levels of the Guild’s castle, where all the magic work, and most of the damage was done in the last attack by some unknown Entity of The Dark that was unwittingly let loose by some novice’s un-authorized experiment, Damia could of personal strangled that fool, but sent him packing instead, AFTER Steel ripped him a new one! “I feel for anyone that hires that muddled brained Elf!” she thinks to herself as she stops at the doors leading to the Guild Trackstone. The doors are made of Ironwood, and Silver, two stories high, and looks like an Obsidian Rhino should be there to pull or push the door open, But Damia, with the help of the magic bespelled into the wood, pushes open with just a touch of a finger.
She walks in, looking for her Allocate, and second in Ranks of the Mages, Boracea and finds her ankle- deep in the Sapphire slurry they have made to fix the cracks in the stone. Damia watches as Boracea takes a small amount of the slurry and touches her Staff to the mix in her hand. She speaks a spell in High Language, and the mix floats gently from her hand, and heads for a crack close to the bottom of the Stone.
Boracea then waves her hand in a wiping-on gesture, and the Slurry adheres itself to the crack, and seals to a seamless patch. “Well done Boracea...Well done. I knew that crack was going to be a problem right at the base!” The grayed haired Mage says to the Honey Blonde one. Boracea wipes her hand off with the hem of her work robe, and smiles” Yes, I was worried about that one too, the rest should be easy, and the trainees should be able to handle the rest”
Boracea has also felt the uneasiness and has a feeling what Damia is about to go do. “Good, I want you to come with me then Boracea, I have to- “I know, I feel it too Damia,” the lesser mage says, “Do you think the Oracle can see anything, it has been having a hard time since the Darkness was released into the Work rooms and all.” Damia shakes her head “I am not sure, but I have to see if it can tell us anything about this feeling, we both are having. I am taking it to my study, the room there may be pure enough for it to see.” Boracea gives her Mentor a worried look. “Are you sure it is safe enough to leave its room?” Damia’s eyes get a hard glint “It is going to have to be, this feeling is getting harder and harder to ignore, I-we- must know what is going on!” Boracea bows her head and nods “as you say Damia”
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Sy had been in a melancholy mood ever since he and Steel had parted ways with Sonja and Raist that morning. He always felt like these trips to Wayward was a waste of days, especially now that they couldn’t use the Trackstone to get back quicker -1 or 2 days now turned into 3 or 5, depending on who came with them, and how many boats came in during the time they were in town. Right now, they were looking at a longer stay, but had brought a fairly small party with them, they needed to stock up on supplies that the winter, and the accident / battle had used up.
Lil’K needed to make some inquiries into the new parts they needed for 28 Mech’s that got destroyed, a Mages went to the Mage Library, trying to figure out how that elf-what was his name, Frost…Lost?- had made such a blunder in that experiment, and how not to have it happen again, And Lady Armina, Key Master, and Rinka were to head out tomorrow morning for medical supplies and to get some supplies trains to head for the Guild in a few weeks, and to get the basics to hold them all over. All totaled,15of the 121 Guild members where along for this trip, the rest were back at the castle, repairing damage, building up the defenses ,and setting all that was broken to rights.
The last fight they had against the Astral Guild had come right after the Dark Entity was let loose in the work halls of the guild, and at the worst time! Sy wondered if it wasn’t timed to happen that way. He sighed as he reigned in his Charger form the run, he had the horse in, he loved the feel of the sturdy mount racing along the valley he was in, not far from the camp, it felt like all the cares of being the leader was being left behind as he urged the horse faster, but he knew he could not outrun it, especially if he was constantly thinking of it! And he knew in his heart he could never stop thinking of all the problems, and of the Mighty War that was sure to come. All these little skirmishes against Guild, and sects, that was on The Dark Minnoin’s side, were just a test he felt, of what that mighty battle was sure to be. And he was so afraid that his little guild, even though being blessed by the Priestess of Heavengrace, in the Lungrand woods, was not up to the challenge that was sure to be put in front of them.
Sylvar pulled his Charger up by a small stream he had seen coming down the last hill before they found the campsite they always used when they came close to the harbor town. He saw a humanoid looking pile of rocks that was not there the last time they were in the area and smiled “Looks like Steel needed some space too” He thought as he jumped off his horse, and put his sword in its saddle scabbard. “Hey Pebble Neck!” Sy called out as he walked towards the stream. The Stone man smiled as he turned to face his friend. “Ey Flashy foo-foo-Fairy” Steel replied laughing. “I am NOT a fairy; those things don’t even make good Rune Wolf kibble!” Steel roared in laughter, “no... And I’m sure you wouldn’t either!” Sy picked up a rock and slung it at Steel, who grabbed it, then ate it” Not quite Gold…” Sy laughed and sat down beside the Co-leader
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The guild leader sees that the Stone man has a fishing pole in the water, and a pile of fish in one of two baskets sitting beside him, and a pile of smooth pebbles in the other. He gives Steel a questioning look, and the Stoneman then pulls the pole up with something that looks like a string of the smooth pebbles wiggling on the end of the line “Bespelled fishing line from Damia, catches your fish, and my Rock Bass.” He says with a knowing wink. Sy laughs, “I didn’t know your kind ate - umm- fish” “Oh yes,” Steel says as he takes off the odd-looking thing from the end of the line and holds it out for Sy to see. When the line of rocks settles in his huge hand, Sylvar can see it does looks something like a Bass. “Do you eat them raw?” Steel makes a face, “Eww-nooo-Key master has a good way to cook these guys, and burns them to a crisp, with a little lemon, the burnt tastes almost like lava rock!”
Sy looks away with a frown.” What ails you friend?” Steel asks, sitting his pole, and the fish down. “Nothing…EVERYTHING.” Steel looks at him strangely, and Sy sighs.” I am just worried is all friend. Worried about the battles yet to come, about our Guild, hell, it seems I am even worried about fish cooking! It is just that...that...I really didn’t ask for all this, to be leader, it was just pushed on to me because I was there when he died, and he handed me the leader’s insignia” Sy looks at Steel, why didn’t you take over the guild after Asher was killed? You have tenure, you were here way before me!”
Steel folds his huge hands in front of his mouth for a few moments as Sy gets himself under control from his outburst. “As for the worry Sy,” Steel says after he seems to gather his thoughts.” I am right along there with you. I too worry we will not have a full guild, a full fighting force, do you know that the Aftermath Castle can hold over 1650 people, staff, fighter, mages, the whole bunch, comfortably?” Sylvar shakes his head. Steel nods, “OH yes, that and more if needed. 121 souls seem to just echo sadly in the halls, and yet, the 121 people we DO have, are some of the strongest, most determined, and fearless I have ever seen SY! They are NOT afraid of hard work, they are NOT afraid of facing any adversity that comes our way, and they would die for Guild, family, and us!” Steel looks across the stream as if he is thinking of another time “Yes, Asher was a fine leader, for a Kindered” he chuckles” And he is the one that got this entire bunch together if you recall. He searched all of the eight realms for the best of the best before the Darkness started to reemerge, and there was less than what we have now.”
“But that last attack he was in, when the Rouge Sect of Dark Kindered attacked, that took us all by surprise, even Asher, he knew some of the ones that killed him.” Yes, I remember that night, that’s when we found Lord G also.” Steel nods, “You were there to take over Sy, it was like the Priestess had you in the right place, fighting along beside him when he fell.”
Sy thinks back of finding the leader before him, with six bodies of dead Dark Kindered laying around him, but with a huge whole in his chest, he remembers kneeling down beside the fallen man, and the man handing him the Golden crest of Aftermath ‘you will lead them now brave Elf, you and the strong Steel will lead them to victory over the Darkness. Never forget, that aftermath always comes with redemption, 'Na-ti be lac tre power' Sy still does not know what the very last words meant, but he will never forget any of them.
Steel coughs bringing the Warrior elf back to the present. “As for me being the leader, I will let you in on a not –so- secret-secret, some people think we Stone men are not very bright, that we are only good for Protecting, not following. We do not agree of course, and neither do a lot of others, but I felt it was wise to let you take up leadership, and let ME just sit back and eat my gold, and nudge you in the right way” Sylvar smiles at the Huge rock that he gladly calls a friend, and co-leader, ‘Well, you do have the eating of the Gold right on the money!” Steel and Sy roar in laughter together.
Don Vito and Ivy watch their friend, and the two strangers walk towards the table they are sitting at. The Kindered was trying to put out an air of calm, but Don could see little spirals of dark blue trying to form along the corners of her eyes. She drew in a deep breath, closed her eyes, seemed to mumble something to herself, and the swirls vanished. Ivy opened them again when she heard Michiro offer the new woman his chair and heard her decline. “We don’t have a lot of time,” Sonja says as she stops in between her companion and the Stone man “so I will get right to the point. We need new people for our Guild, Aftermath, and from what I have seen come off the boats so far today, you TWO are the best we are gonna find so far, unless more boats are due in.” “Two?” Don says as he looks over his friends,” there are three of us sitting here.” Sonja looks at Ivy, then waves her hand in a dismissive gesture, “We don’t need any more like her.” Ivy stares at the other woman in shock. “Then you don’t need any of us Kindered. ” Don says as he starts to stand up,” we are all together, or none of us at all!” Michiro nods his head,” Yup, package deal, you can’t split up a package!”
Raist grabs Sonja by the arm,” Excuse us for a moment.” He says to the others as he pulls her with him back towards the bar. They get close to the counter, and Sonja jerks her arm out of Raist’s grasp.” What!?!?” She growls at the human, looking at him like he could be an afternoon snack. Raist ignores the look, “We are here to get as many as we can that want to join, why are you not giving that woman a chance?” As Sonja starts to tell Raist an answer, a Mage walks into the bar, walks over to the owner, Charlie, and leans in to tell him something. CLANG CLANG CLANG!! Goes a huge bell at the end of the bar Charlie is standing at to get everyone’s attention. “People, I have just informed we have a huge storm getting ready to come in. No more boats for at least a week, they are saying. You got an hour, maybe two, to get where ya need to be!”
Raist looks at Sonja, as a lot of the people at the Tavern start to call out to waitress to pay up their tabs. “Look, ya heard him, we have to get back to camp. We take them all and let Sy and Steel figure out what to do with them.” Sonja glares back at the three they were talking to, now standing up, and getting their travel packs together. “Fine...” she grumbles,” I’ll go get the horses, I hope they all have a way to keep up! ” As she turns and stalks out of the Tavern, Raist walks back over to the group of 3 they were talking to. “Come on, you’re all in!” he says with a cheeriness he really does not feel. Don, and Michiro high five each other, and Ivy lets her breath out that she did not realize she was holding.