Upon leaving the city Cloud tells Straud of the arrangement made Cynn, Maylor and Straud all join at the gathering of the meeting for the wealth of knowledge could be great and prosperous. Also joining is Rain, Cloud and Dawn along with the rest of their companions as well as Namor, Tristan and a handful of guards as well as the attendance of the man left behind by the Zenith leader. Waiting for a time, clouds to the sky suddenly go dark creating lightning hitting one spot in the air with the clouds beginning to spin in a circular pattern. The wind picks up causing a vortex in the cloud to occur forming them into a tornado like shape sideways. In seconds appearing from the wide end of the cone is Eve, with a squad of twelve men following in her wake, the portal closes and she then begins to just stare at the group of heroes having a smile emerge on her face.
“She could have at least worn more clothes, she looks like a whore” Elanee whispers leaning to Alisianna’s ear and amused by the statement both Alisianna and Dawn quickly laugh.
The men start to stare deeply at her flawless beauty and turning to Cloud Alisianna pushes up Cloud’s lower jaw to meet the top of his mouth, smiling to his blind side “Remember honey, your married now” she finishes with a hurtful pinch to his side jolting Cloud back to reality, Cloud stands up straight and shouts to the other guards to stand at attention.
“Greetings contingent of Silverspire, my name is Eve; Eve Templaris, high Templar of the Tower of the Zenith clan and protectors of the realm” she looks around and speaks again “Who was the one who solved the riddle” and pointing to Rain the leader of Eve’s guard then says “HIM! My Lady” and motioning Rain to step forward he then casually walks up and laughs a bit.
“What is so amusing to you young Drow” Eve says to him
“Nice entrance but it still proves nothing of what you have claimed to us” Rain says.
“Then maybe enough talk has be exchanged I will now take you to my tower and you can judge the structure for yourself, you may pick of this gathering five other to accompany you to the tower” Rain then chooses his siblings as well as Cynn, Maylor and his uncle for it’s their original goal to see Colossus fall. Cloud then turns to Tristan to give him the Captain power to the city until his return and then to his wife telling her he loves her and that this Eve has nothing over her, he then kisses her and smiling with a glow she wishes him good luck and watches him go. Eve then says a word “Krebbleos” and the doorway portal opens. The leader then turns to the rest and says to them “Do not try to open this portal for it would be pointless in case of need to reach one of these comrades, the portal will only open for a guardians command or the descendant of one of the Clan members” he concludes entering it and the gateway disappears.
And following Tristan’s lead, the group then goes back to the city. Artanis remains behind at his own leisure to see the groups return on schedule, while the others take the near two day journey south to the city. Upon hitting the city at nightfall Tristan asks Alisianna if she wished to spend the night at the castle, and tired from the long ride home she agrees to the invitation.
Going back to her room Elanee then has a visitor in there waiting in a chair and about to call the guards he stops here “Please don’t my Lady for you had me summoned remember, I am a forging mage, and was told that you had need of my services?”
“Yes, of course forgive me for misjudging you” and bowing his head he waits for her order “You see I need an item to be fashioned to prevent a dear friend of mine from falling under mind control again”
“A most difficult procedure that is my lady and the materials to create such an item are hard to come by”
“What do you require?” Elanee asked
“Well the easiest way to have the protection and most effective is a headband or a circlet if you want the proper term, and the materials to fashion this item is a valuable metal preferably Mage steel which is a hefty amount of gold, I have some but will need a valued item in exchange for its use” he explains and thinking for a second she snap her fingers
“I have something that will be of trade” and going into her wardrobe she then grabs the jeweled necklace Namor gave to her and hands it to him, he takes the necklace and casts a spell to appraise the item.
“This item will do but if I may my lady this friend of yours, is he your lover?”
“Lover... oh no, he wishes” she laughs while seeing the figure remain serious,
“My lady” he says again “this is a very nice necklace the man who gave this to you wasn’t him was it?”
“No?” she replied
“Do you want to think about this, the outcome I mean?”
“No I have already and he is important to me, I…I mean this realm and he needs to be protected by anything that could exploit him” and hearing this, the mage then nods his head.
“I also require the blood of a seer to blend the process with the circlet” and smiling she says
“Well you’re looking at one my dear forger” Elanee boasts bringing a look of shock to his face at her answer “A truly unique set of events have occurred here tonight my lady for finding both materials in one area is an act of the gods, or a woman who truly could be set on the right path” he smiles and grabbing a dagger from his belt and a vial from his pouch he then comes close to her “Are you sure about this my dear for when this circlet is placed on his head, he will be forever immune to your powers”
“I’m sure” Elanee says nodding and quickly cutting a corner of her hand she grips his cloak from the pain, “Sorry I apologize for the discomfort” he replies as he tips her hand to drip the blood into the vial, I shall have this made for you in a few days’ time my Lady and about to leave he then asks “who’s necklace was this before it was giving to you?”
“An Ambassador named Namor” she answered and shocked due to the name she then asked why.
“He had a rip in his gloves and he asked me to fix them for him” the mage smirked
“Oh you do wardrobe repairs too?” Elanee questioned
And smiling a bit he responded “You could say that” and he disappeared wishing her a good night.
Entering the tower, the initial looks to the tower was overwhelming; they all were impressed by the pristine construction and décor of the place. Getting a tour of the facilities great hall first, then moving through to the chambers while getting a speech on the inner workings of the place from Eve.
They then come to the room where Colossus disassembled the real clan members of the tower, and even cleaning as good as she could Sephinroth still couldn’t get off all the scorch marks made by his awful spells.
“What happened in here?” asked Cynn
“Well if told to you that this place was a sanctuary I would definitely be lying” Eve said “This place has seen its share of battle, triumphs as well as losses” and looking around carefully some group members grow suspicious of the Guardian but for now keep it to themselves, the group is then shown the final features of the tower including the forge which captures the attention of Cloud and Straud gazing at the wondrous weapons and armor crafted in the place, the magical workbenches and craft labs which takes the attention of Cynn, Maylor and Dawn. Leaving them to their areas, Eve then takes Rain to his haven, the great sanctum library of the Zenith clan. Rain is awed at the height of the cases reaching higher than he can see and witnessing more bookcases then he can count. Reading some titles of books on things he had never known existed, he is brought to a table with a book, bright golden covered and showing symbols on the front that look truly defining he then picks it up, and smiling at him she then says to him “I’m going to check on the rest, you going to be ok if I leave you here”
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“Oh yeah, I’ll be fine Eve, and thank you for such an opportunity”
“Solve this riddle of a puzzle with us and the honor and thanks will be all mine my dear Drow” Eve says as she leaves the hall.
Due to being his wife, Alisianna is given a guard detail from the elite guards of Namor’s own to stand watch at her door. Getting disrobed and ready for a bed sleep, she lets out he hair holder clips and letting it down she stretches before bed. She then goes into a sitting position to do a type of natural meditation; the guards outside her door try to get a glimpse of her natural nymph beauty by looking through the keyhole of the door. Having one guard peeping into the hole the other stands close by listening to the description of what the other was seeing until a dagger stabs into the door just above the peeping guards’ eye. Turning quickly around they draw weapons to see who attempted such an act, and lowering with shock they salute a very sinisterly angry looking Captain Tristan.
“Captain I didn’t …..”
“Shut Up!! You pigs, do you have any idea what an honor it is to be able to have permission to guard another Captain’s wife” and taking the dagger from the door Tristan slices a cut mark very swiftly across both the men’s faces just missing their eyes.
Graveling in pain quietly he whispers to the guards “Your lucky I don’t take your eyes for such an immature dishonor and respect, now go switch guard duties with the prison guards of Silverspire” he bolts to them harshly
“Prison duty, we elite guards don’t watch criminals and we are not under your command anyway” one guard replies back and without a blink Tristan unsheathes his sword and puts it to the guards’ neck,
“That’s a pity, because one such as you should be first in line to guard one of your own kind, now unless you plan to challenge my orders with a rebellious sword, I again politely asked you to do as I say” and shoving the guard off his blade end the two scamper away, one stopping to asked “But who will watch the lady?”
“Not that it is any of your concern but I am from here on in until Cloud gets back” Tristan replies and they continue to go make the trade, shaking his head Tristan then knocks upon her door and only wearing a sheet to hide her figure Alisianna answers
“Tristan, is something wrong, where is my detail?”
“Something has come up Alisianna and they had to be removed” he replied to her
“Will I have another one?”
“Yes actually, I will be doing it for the rest of tonight after I make my rounds, and I was just checking to make sure that everything was alright”
“Yes everything is fine, and you don’t need to waste the time guarding me I’m sure I’ll be fine”
“My dear the only way I know you will be fine is doing this very act myself, and I’m sorry for disturbing you in such an unready state, please go back to what you were doing”
“OK” and about to close the door she opens it again” Oh and Tristan thanks for getting rid of them, I’m sure they got their fill before you stopped them” she said and with a look of embarrassment on his face he nods to her and closes the door. The Silverspire guards show up some time later and being told to watch the hall until his return Tristan goes to check the rest of the halls.
Finishing up all the halls except one he goes down Elanee and Namor’s wing with his cat at his side, coming up to Elanee’s door he sees Namor outside of it looking through an opening in the door seam, shaking his head and covering his eyes with his hand in disbelief he walks up to him “I now know where they got it from, the king of swine himself” Tristan comments quietly to himself.
“Are you lost Namor?” he says out loud startling Namor’s concentration
“Oh no Captain just getting some good night treats before bed”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just asked her to disrobe in front of you rather than spy”
“Easier yes but far less satisfying” Namor replied and shaking his head again he moves Namor aside and knocks on Elanee’s door,
“What the hell are you doing Tristan” Namor demands from him and looking to him with an emotionless face he says very directly “MY JOB AMBASSADOR!”
Answering the door in a quickly wrapped up robe, laying out evidence that she was also naked Elanee addresses the disturbance.
“Oh hi Tristan”
“Milady, just making sure everything is good before I leave shift here”
“Oh everything is fine, Captain” she says to him pushing the wet hair from her eyes “Just finished having a bath and was combing my hair before bed, and nodding his head she goes to close the door when Tristan sees the cut mark on her hand pushing the oak door shut, stopping it from closing with his foot she opens it again with confusing “Something wrong Tristan?”
“Your hand, what happened” and looking down at it she looks up at him again
“Oh that, that’s nothing I was grabbing my mirror and you know wet hands” she laughs “I dropped it and it broke, then picking up the shards I cut myself that’s all nothing major”
“You dropped your mirror” Tristan repeated with a suspicious tone of not believing her, he then moves into the room checking the closets and storage areas as well as out on the balcony, and while check he continues “Look um with Cloud gone for a few days and maybe longer I’m in charge with security, and you are an important watch to me so with your permission I would like to leave Anubis with you during this time just in case”
“Ok I’ll take him off your hands, he is so cute” Elanee says rubbing Anubis’s chin and getting a prrr of acceptance Anubis then jumps up to lay on Elanee’s bed.
“Good, Anubis is the best guard cat I know, and with me watching Alisianna myself I need someone I can trust to do the same with you, after all you don’t know who is watching you and at the most uncomfortable times” Tristan says staring at Namor hard and blushing a bit she then notices Namor standing in the door way.
“Namor what are you doing here?”
“Oh I was just going by and heard talking in here, umm good night Captain”
“Good night Ambassador” replies Tristan not even looking at him and going over to Anubis Tristan then says to him “Do me a favor boy; if that slime ball Ambassador tries this act again, bite him”
And going to leave her room Elanee kisses Tristan on the check “You’re so sweet for giving me your cat, thank you Tristan”
“Good night, Lady Elanee” he says leaving the room, Tristan stares at Namor.
“Out as well for you too ambassador for she needs her rest” and sending him out of the room, Namor then goes grumbling to his own chambers. Watching him go to make sure he doesn’t come back Tristan then goes to guard Alisianna’s door again.
As nightfall hits the city Artanis sits at the ruins of Crystal Crown, waiting for the Drow group to return, waiting for hours to go by he gets impatient.
“How long can a tour of a tower take anyway they don’t cover that much space” and walking around a bit he then starts to rehearse what the leader said to them about not allowed into the tower and pretending to be the Guardian he puts to the sky his arms mimicking the Zenith leader announcing out to the air “Krebbleos” to his amazement he then has the portal open up to him, “What the hell??” Artanis says with utter confusion upon his face but letting his curiosity get the best of him, he enters the portal.
Checking out the other parts of the tower where the Drow group is in, Eve is interrupted by a guard to inform her that an intruder has been detected in the tower but doesn’t know where.
“Damn it all, it’s Logan again, that impatient cow can’t honestly think I have the essences already, I’m not even close….not matter, find him, check everywhere” and she then goes back to see Rain.
Returning to the library chamber she sees Rain’s head sitting on the cover of the book.
“You know I’ve tried that already and the information has to be read for it to go into your head” she smiles to him “Hungry?” she asks getting a servant to bring some food and drink, and goes over to the table he was at.
“I’ve been through this book and nothing in it makes sense at all, the numbers and letters don’t match to anything later in the book and the sentences are all out of sequence as well as order” Rain explains not even lifting his head. Having the rest of the group come in to the room Cloud whistles at the sight of the room.
“Wow this is big, no wonder you haven’t left here Rain” Cloud said and then Rain lifts his head to his brother with a beaten over look to his face, seeing his head rise up Dawn starts to laugh a bit.
“What’s so funny Dawn?”
“Oh nothing just you have the imprint of a part of the cover on your forehead” she says
“Well I hope it’s amusing as well as nice looking, hope I got the whole symbol, maybe it’ll brand into my head so I can understand this stuff better” Rain exhaustedly said
“Well it kind of looks like the symbol here on the floor” she points out, and looking toward where she pointed he smirks a sec,
“Well that’s just….” And looking again at the symbol he then grips the book and walks fast up to it holding the book beside it “Holy shit” getting an idea bred into his skull he turns to Cynn “Can you lift me into the air here Cynn?”
“Yeah, but why”
“Just trust me please I have a theory, raise me up like twenty feet” Rain asks and doing so she raises him in the air, looking at the book cover again he shouts “Higher Cynn” and again she raises him, “Higher” he keeps shouting looking at the book cover every time, and nearly sitting almost 150 feet in the air he say “Ok that’s enough” and looking again he smiles a big smile down to them though they can’t really see him. “It’s a map, the cover of the book it’s a map of this room” and opening the cover of the book he reads the numbers in the first page “Oh my god!, the book I have is a key stone to the tome text, the numbers here are locations to books all over the library, Cloud go to case four, shelf six, book ten” going to where he said he grabs the book
“Ok now what” says Cloud
“Open it to page two-hundred and ten, and read me the start of the second paragraph” Rain dictates to him, and upon reading it Rain laughs “It works, hahaha it WORKS!” Rain says asking Cynn to lower him down, Rain then takes the book from Cloud and they all go to the table Rain was at so he could explain, he says that the golden book is a reference key to books all over the library, they have the missing pieces of text to finish the tome text in the back half of the golden book he demonstrates by taking the book Cloud had and using the paragraph from the page he open to, Rains uses it in between the two first paragraphs in the golden book to make sense of what he is reading.
“The next book must have the next paragraph for it’s between the next two sections of text in the gold book too, and so on and so forth”
“That’s a brilliant finding Rain” Eve said excitedly
“It’s just the beginning though for this will take some time to find all the books as well as try to figure out where we need to look”