De Planes.
Rehil glances from the dinosaur, to his bow, and back, "That's a big meat-eater. Can you scare it off, Wultram?"
As the question was addressed to Cole, Vaard remains silent, he is clearly a bit awed by the presence of the majestic creature.
Tal starts to second guess his idea to be a distraction when he sees that it's a T-Rex but feels slightly better seeing that it isn't a full grown specimen.
Cole dips his head in acknowledgment, “Lady Zishasa, then.” He shrugs, “I don’t know exactly what it is we seek down here. A clue? Some context? I’m not a scholar, but I’m to understand this Prophecy is very important. To many people.”
He cocks his head to the side, “Maybe you could help us understand what these words say? It could be incredibly helpful.”
"Lady Zisasha, we had a recent and very strange experience, bordering on the divine. We have been led to believe that we hold a position of import slightly higher than the usual members of the short-lived races. I wanted to see if that was true and what else might be learned. Potential fragments of portents and such."
Plains
Rehil waits with his bow half drawn, eyes on the terrible lizard.
"Wultram?"
"What sort of experience?" asks the dragon pointedly.
"We came upon a dragon of some sort that our enemies had used in a foul ritual. We tried to save it, unhook it from their machine. Despite our work, it exploded and we died. We were thrust back into this life by an outside entity."
"That is true, Lady Zisasha... we died, but we were brought back... and the Great River Serpent, or perhaps it was the Silver Flame, spoke to me at least... and we believe the prophecy could shed some light to our fates."
Cole tries to remain stoic, but he’s clearly torn about revealing their secret. Well, he thinks, as the Old Man used to say, the cat’s out of the bag, now. Though why would someone put a cat in a bag?
“This experience is not public knowledge, and we hope to keep it that way, if possible. We hope you can respect that?”
The dragon gazes down at Cole haughtily. "You dare to question my honour?" Then she peers more intently and adds, somewhat distractedly. "Though perhaps you are the ones...
"The Prophecy is a living thing. It does not speak of a predetermined future, but instead of potentiality. It allows one to glimpse what could be but will not, as well as what will. The Prophecy here is very intertwined with the Great Wards which hold the progeny of Khyber prisoner within the bosom of Eberron, what you know as the Silver Flame. Why this should be is unknown, but nevertheless it has proved a magnet to those who chose to would chose to worship the Flame as a deity - hence the city above.
"The Prophecy has been very active of late. It speaks of a small band - those who died but yet live - who will hold the key to the prison of one chained by fate. The identity of this prisoner is unclear, but nevertheless his or her fate, and yours, are intertwined with the Great Wards.
"Do your interactions with the Silver Flame provide any further insight as to what this may mean?"
The allip swoops at the dinosaur, but the big reptile jerks back out of the way just in time.
Tal tenses as he waits to see what the Dino does in reaction to the summoned creature.
Plains
Rehil winces and shakes his head against the phantom's song. "What is that?!"
"My interaction with the Flame has profoundly changed my outlook on the world.
You claim that the Flame is not a Deity and perhaps you are right but I have since become an adherent to the Flame and slowly but surely it has provided unto me abilities that most would call "Divine".
While Vaard is still clearly awed by the majestic Serpent, it's characterization of the Flame has clearly given Vaard pause.
"I make no claim either way with regard to the Silver Flame. But for me it is an element influencing, and incorporated into, the Draconic Prophecy. The Prophecy is Eberron herself speaking - what greater divinity could there be than that?" Lady Zishasa voice rings with conviction.
Vaard is unsure of whether to say anything further about the vision as his allies seem unwilling to do so but a snippet may be all this is required.
"Tell me Great One, what is the ultimate node in relation to the Prophecy?"
The dragon gazes down at Cole haughtily. "You dare to question my honour?" Then she peers more intently and adds, somewhat distractedly. "Though perhaps you are the ones...
Cole weathers the dragon's indignation stoically. "No offense was intended, Lady Zishasa. I just prefer to be clear, though I'm realizing some find it blunt."
He stops to consider, then looks back up at her, "You said the identity is unclear. You seem to have far more experience with the Prophecy than us, and likely have learned a far bit more in your longer lifetime. Do you have any guesses worth voicing?"
Nalverren stands in thought.
"Yes, there was more, now that you mention the bit about us potentially being keys. In the moments where I was dead, I heard a multitude of hissing voices. They said that what was bound would be unbound, those that slew Siberys must remain in the depths of Khyber. Then a feathered and winged serpent told me that the unbinding of the spawn of Kyber must not be permitted."
"If we are the keys, then why would the serpent save us? Why not leave the keys dead and wait for the next keys, assuming more are to be made, to occur?"
She looks at Vaard. "I don't know what you are talking about."
The dragon bridles slightly at Cole's suggestions about whether her guesses are 'worth voicing' or not. "The Prophecy is not a parlour game where one hazards wild suppositions. But the implication is of an entity beyond ordinary mortal power.
"As to why the Flame would choose to save you, I am not privy to those reasons. But the Prophecy is also not like some sort of hansom, where if one waits another will simply come along. Some aspects may be cyclical but most are not. A missed opportunity will probably never reoccur."
"Your insight is invaluable," Nalverren says of the dragon, partially complimenting it so as to dispose it to release more information, "My only experience with prophecies is the storybook variety. I wonder though, if what is bound wants to be free, and we are keys, then why save us if release is not to be permitted and the keys will not return? In what way do we contribute, other than being a liability?"
"Sometimes it is the gaoler who holds the key, to lock the prisoner within their cell," replies the dragon loftily, "You should not think so one-dimensionally."
"Wultram! What is the ghost doing? Should I shoot the t'sauros?" The elf seems undecided on a course of action.
"Ah, yes, that makes sense. Though it is already locked up. But if its escape is prophecy, then we must lock it back up. Along these lines, if you think them worth pursuing, do you know where the lock or locks might be? And where this creature is foretold to erupt from? And when, my lady?"
Tal's eyes glow briefly as he establishes a link with the life force of Wultram and Rehil. He moves to head off any charge from the beast against his companions in case the skeleton and the summoned ghost don't stop it.
The dragon blinks in a certain degree of irritation. "The Prophecy will be fulfilled be the concatenation of circumstance, not a fixed timetable. And the location is likewise ambiguous. Once the conditions are appropriate the Prophecy will unfold." Her eyes narrow. "I assume you would not seek to interfere with proper path of events?"
Plains
Rehil, takes the mage at his word. "Tal, we can fall back by pairs!"
Rehil keeps an arrow fit to the string, and an eye on the dinosaur as he retreats a short distance. Then he draws on the big lizard, while he waits for Tal to leap frog him back.
Skelly 19
Rehil 18
Tal 17
T Rex 14
Wultram (and Allip) 10
"It seems as if I could not, even were I predisposed to. Do you know of any other passages or concepts that you could explain to us regarding our place in these events? Others that may join us, artifacts we are supposed to gather, anything? I am a man who likes to know as much as possible and be prepared, rather than rushing into things willy-nilly."
"Proper path of events? Majestic one, you make it seem as if events would unfold without the ability of the living to change them. A pre determined fate if you will. If this Prophecy reveals the unfolding of some great evil force should we not attempt to prevent such events from unfolding?"
The dinosaur starts at the allip's maddening caress, but seems undamaged. The skeleton's strangled hiss causes it to turn its head curiously at Wultram's companion.
Answering Nalverren, the dragon replies, "The Prophecy remains vague on these points. But there are hints of two nations on the verge of war, and a monarch in peril. But little as to their identity."
The dragon looks sharply at Vaard. "Have you not been listening? To attempt to alter the Prophecy would be blasphemous! There are those who would seek to do so amongst my people, the so-called Chamber!" She virtually spits out the last word, and flames flicker behind her teeth. "But to 'nudge' the Prophecy in a desired direction? Whose desired direction? How can we know that would not cause more problems than it would solve? What disasters could unfold, unforeseen, if the proper order of things is prevented from happening? That would be recklessness of the highest order! And would make us little better than the Lords of Dust."
The dragon is now very agitated. "Are you the cat's paws of those two juvenile fools in the city above? Chamber agents? Pah!" Her claws scratch at the rock floor, leaving shallow grooves. "Perhaps I should take this opportunity to frustrate their foolish scheme before it begins." The muscles in her shoulders and flanks bunch as she gets ready to strike.
"LADY ZISHASHA!" Teprin's yell bounces off the cavern walls. He quickly moves to interpose himself between the dragon and the other members of the group. "These people are guests of Krezent, as are you. You are all bound by oaths of non-violence towards one another and the people of the city. Would you dishonour that pledge?"
The dragon looks down at him for a moment like a hawk might gaze at a mouse. Then she relaxes slightly. "No," she grudgingly mutters, "I suppose not." She sends a vicious look at the adventurers but settles back.
Teprin turns to the adventurers. "I think perhaps we should leave," he says quietly.
Ignoring Teprin for the moment, Nalverren continues, "Yes, to place such an important matter at the hands of conniving politicians would be unwise. As they are agents of the Chamber, which you seem to disdain, any insight on your part would be a wise counterweight to that of their own machination. Before we leave, would you honor us with a bit of your own story? How you came to be here, to study the prophecy, from whence you came? This is all so amazing to mortals such as we."