Czlaplon Quest

[ToranaVameha]

I'll nod. "At this point...yes. We're not going back to the city for a little while, but...I think you should come with us anyway. I'll get in touch with the temple and let them know what's going on after we meet up with Gudrun and see if she can figure anything else out. That way I can tell them everything possible all at once. So...time to go, I think."

[TarlimanJoppos]

"Well, all right then!" Mekhitar tosses back the rest of his wine, and stands. "Let's go!"

"Just so you know," Shaliko interjects, "I don't trust you any further than I could throw this building."

Mekhitar rolls his eyes. "You and your cousin" -- he nods to Isaac -- "aren't the trusting sort, I get that. Now, shall we?"

Having nothing further to say, Shaliko turns and walks out. As the lot of you head back to the docks, to meet up with Garsevan and hopefully Gudrun, Shaliko draws Torana and Isaac aside and pitches his voice so it won't carry.

"His story has more holes in it than a worn out fishing net. The only part I might buy, and then only at a discount, is the bit about time in Death's Realm being nonlinear. That fits in with what I've learned from my own studies. What's this about a whistle?"

[ToranaVameha]

"Oh...It's complicated. He's actually a pre-Scourge Troubadour...We found his whistle in a Horror's lair in Throal. He had done something to it so that if he ever died and someone played it, it was supposed to bring him back to life. But it didn't work right...He ended up in the same body with Leliel, an elf Elementalist, and we had to go to Death's Realm to get it sorted out. It wasn't what he meant to happen at all...I think the Horror might have twisted the magic or something."

[arcomniflash]

I'll regard Torana for a moment. "Death's Realm...? We'll I'm glad you made it back alive. Having gone there and come back is no mean feat."

After that little shock is over I'll shake my head and turn back to Shaliko. "Honestly? I don't think we should be walking around with him, but there's little else we can do - can't leave him running around on his own. Being undead is one thing, but this is something entirely different. For now, why don't we keep an eye on him and have Gudrun check him."

Tipping the brow of my hat low for a moment as I think, I'll tilt my head towards Torana again. "Say, Torana, are there any Lightbearers posted anywhere near Vivane?"

- Isaac

[ToranaVameha]

"Lightbearers? I sort of doubt it...but I already want to let the temple know about this after we talk to Gudrun. They'll know, and they'll follow up on it...I wouldn't be very surprised if they asked us to change our current mission, though...or maybe just speed it up. We might end up Astral Shifting instead of traveling normally."

[arcomniflash]

"Of course, of course. This is more important than my own personal matters. Let's not forget that we must deal with that Horror though. That much is our duty." I'll nod quietly to validate my own words.

- Isaac

[TarlimanJoppos]

"Our duty is to exterminate the Horrors," Shaliko responds. "Wherever they may be. But it is not wise to turn aside from a quarry you're already tracking to cast about for another. This is why you hunt in teams, so that you can split up if need be. But of course I will defer to what the command orders us to do."

You arrive at the docks, and see Garsevan heading your direction, floating along in the air next to a truly massive troll woman in rune-emblazoned black leather armor. She's missing half of her left horn, the stump capped with silver, and has a nasty scar down the left side of her face that just misses her eye. Her left tusk is flatly missing. She glances your way when Garsevan directs her attention to you, then stops, and levels her magician's staff at Mekhitar. "What," she growls loudly enough to be heard from thirty paces away, "is that?"

Mekhitar sweeps her a graceful bow, with a flourish of his cloak. "Mekhitar the Magnificent, Troubadour, at your service," he announces.

[arcomniflash]

Looking around first to make sure that there isn't anyone nearby enough to hear, I'll reply somewhat bluntly with "A dead man." Casting a glance from Gudrun to Mekhitar and then back again. "Or rather...we were hoping you could tell us." I'll step forward and look the troll woman up and down, narrowing my eye a little. "Gudrun, is it? Isaac Himnerith. As you can see we've run into a rather strange problem...." I'll whisper a little, raising my eyebrow a little as I look back to the dead troubadour once again.

- Isaac

[ToranaVameha]

"It's complicated. ...It's always complicated. I'm Torana, this is Timothy, and this is Andine. Shaliko, and Kolbeinn." Introductions around! "Anyway...Mekhitar just told us some troubling things, so it's good you're here now. I'd like to see what you think about it all...but here probably isn't the best place. We have rooms at an inn for now, but we need to resupply and find a ship to take us out of here...as long as that's the way we're still going to travel, anyway." I'll glance at Mekhitar. "You just can't help throwing everything all into a twist around yourself, can you?"

[TarlimanJoppos]

Mekhitar throws his hands wide, accepting the blame and the attention all at once. "I'm a Troubadour!" he exclaims, reminding you of something you really ought to have already known. "Being the center of attention is part of my Discipline!"

Gudrun, meanwhile, has obviously recognized Mekhitar's Name. When he introduced himself, she sighed, and lowered her staff. "Inn?" she prompts Torana.