As you were all preparing for the next day, there came another knock at your door.
Gio opens the door and looks down, expecting another tray of food.
Drying her face, she goes to the door and opens it.
Aleister gets dressed and goes to open the door.
Coming out of your room, you see Taquan standing at the end of the hall with a green torch. "Please, follow me."
He leads you to what appears to be a large dining hall with a round wooden table capable of accommodating twelve people. At four of the seats lies a breakfast that each of you has not had in a long time.
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"They feed us very well here," Gio says. "It makes me wonder if we are being fattened up for the kill."
She nods, "Yeah, but it's better than prision. Who knows what we're going to be dealing with when we leave here, so I'm just gonna enjoy it while it lasts."
"I'm not really getting any creepy vibes from this place and my instincts are usually pretty good." Aleister hums as he walks.
She looks at Gio, "See....he says it's okay. I haven't got any bad vibes either....there was a rather....vivid dream....but that was about it. You have trust issues don't you?" She asks, as she goes to sit down in one of the four seats. She kind of shrugs, "It's okay to be cautious sometimes. They need us for something though, so I don't think they're gonna hurt us while we're here. The mission might be dangerous....but if we're careful and we all stick together....I think we'll be able to get through anything that's thrown at us. Right now, I think we should just enjoy this delicious looking meal, as well as their hospitality."
Gio shrugs and sits down to eat.
She makes a mental note of his silence in response to her question. She had her own reasons for not being immediately trusting of people either, but these people all helped in the escape, so she felt they deserved her trust. She could understand him not trusting the situation they found themselves in, but she hoped that that was as far as it went. If at some point he decided that they couldn't be trusted....would he try to betray them? She wasn't trying to be a smartass or anything. She just wanted to know if he had trouble trusting people....because She had experience with people that didn't trust others and it could get ugly really fast. She wanted to avoid that at all cost. She would never allow herself to be captured again, and she would never be owned by anyone again either. She nods her head slightly and ignores his silence for the time being. She digs into the meal and eats heartily, thoroughly enjoying the meal.
"While it's obvious that our hosts expect something substantial from us, they clearly respect our talents enough to make the offer enticing, and have the resources to make us comfortable. Given where we were less than forty eight hours ago, I'll take my chances with them for now." Ravanalonna says in response spooning sweetened cream on a bowl of strawberries.
Swallowing a bite of food she nods in agreement, "Yep, what she said."
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Taqan returned as you finished your meal with eight scrolls. Handing each of you a pair, one turns out to be a map, the other a letter.
The map has three X markers on it, one to the west in Caer Bryr, one in the Ansgar Mountains, and the last in the southwest corner of the island. To the west of Talingarde appears to be an uncharted island with the drawing of a castle.
Letter - You may only be four sparks, but great raging fires are announced with the smallest sparks. But like any fire, you will need to grow to survive. I managed to locate three sources of power to help you. To the west, lies a tribe of spider worshipers that should prove helpful in your endeavors. In the Mountains, there exists an abandoned Dwarven mine that contains enough Mithril to equip an army. And in the southwest, there exists the Barrow of the First King, within it, there exists artifacts gifted by the gods, all of them.
"So which on do we look into first?" Aleister asks aloud.
"I would think that the materials to equip an army would be best collected before said army." Ravan says thoughtfully, not that I'm enthusiastic about being in some cavern.
"Seeing these spider worshipers would probably be the easiest task," Gio says. "I'm not a miner and artifacts usually don't come easy."
Aleister nods to Gio's plan. "Exactly my thoughts. How are we going to mine or carry all that material without the manpower first? And if we fail to get an army then the land basically goes to waste for us."
He pauses for a second to consider the last marker. "Hard to say about the artifacts. They could be protected by divine design or beast, or worse for all we know. I would certainly feel better about attempting it after getting to know you all a bit better and gaining the power this letter promises." He says with a shrug.
She sighs, "I'm not sure I understand what we're supposed to be doing with any of this stuff, or how it's supposed to help us topple a kingdom. It doesn't seem to be explained very well. How do we know we can trust these spider people? How do we know for sure that they're really going to help us? I don't know....I'm for going where we're most likely to get some answers." She thinks for a moment, "Maybe these spider people can help fill in some information gaps?"
"I think we are supposed to.....impress upon them to serve our cause." Ravan suggests.
Gio nods at Ravan. "Which might prove difficult but not impossible."
Taqan, waiting by the dining hall door, spoke up, "When you have decided, a man will take you to where you need to go."
Finishing the rest of her meal she sips on her juice as she listens to the others and then the strange guy. Looking at the others she just smiles, "I'm sure we can come up with a way to...convince them." Looking over at Taquan she says, "As soon as we're all done eating and get our stuff from the rooms and get all ready and stuff, we'll be set to go."
Gio finishes his breakfast, goes back to his room, washes his face and gathers his belongings.
Eri likewise finishes her meal and goes back to her room. She washes her hands, face, and cleans her teeth before gathering her things, putting on her armor and strapping her axe to her back. Going over to the mirror she checks herself out before tying up her hair and pulling the hooded cloak on over her.
Once she's all ready, Eri goes back out into the main room and waits for the others.
Finishing her meal, Ravan heads back to her room, washing up and dressing. Gathering up the gear she would take with her, she stops to take in her ravishing appearance in the full length mirror. Smiling, she joins the other.
Aleister smiles. "Right. Should be easy as Sin." He says with a laugh.
He excuses himself along with the others to get prepared for departure and returns with his new belongings shortly thereafter. "Everyone ready to get this show on the road?" He asks.
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With everyone ready to go, Taqan guides you to another cavernous room. Here stood a tree, a very large and old looking tree. At its base is a large, intricately carved, stone disc raised about six inches from the floor with a red crystal hovering in the center. On the left wall was a mural-like map of Talingarde with three white lights, about the size of candle flames, marking the same areas you saw marked on your maps earlier. Along the right wall were three finely carved table that held one small box each. The first box had a spider sigil burned into its lid, the second crossed axes, and the third a crown.
Pulling a pouch from his belt, Taqan opened it and handed each of you a quartz crystal on a leather strap. "Wear these about your neck. When you wish to return here, hold the crystal in your hand and speak the words: Rune Hearth. You will then be brought back here to the safety of this place. Be warned however, it only works once between sunrises."
Going over to the map, he points to the lights, "Each light marks where you will be teleported to, though not all are at the exact destination you need to be, but they are close enough. To reach a point, simply take that stone," He pointed to the red crystal, "and touch it to the desired location on the map. When the stone glows, replace it back to its original position. All who stand on the disc will then be taken to that destination."
Nodding his head to the tables on the right wall, "Do not forget the gifts."
Looking a little puzzled she asks, "More stuff?"
"The gifts are not necessarily for you."
She nods, "So I take it, the one with the spider on it goes to the creepy spider people, the crossed axes are for whatever we find in that place to "equip an army", and the one with the crown is for the ruins where the artifacts are supposed to be. Right?"
"A girl grasps."
She shrugs, "Eh....I have my moments." She says with a laugh that sounds more girlish than beastly.
Gio picks up the box with the spider sigil and stands on the disc. "Aleister, if you will."
Eri gets up on the disk as well, "Wait for us." She then holds out her hand to Ravan, "Ready to do this?" She asks with a wicked smile.
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Once everyone is on the platform and ready Aleister takes the red crystal and touches it to the location nearest the spider people. "Hold on to your hats." He says before activating the teleportation disc.
Taking Eri's hand Ravan matches the smile. "As ready as can be I suppose, exciting!"
The crystal began pulsing, slowly at first then rapidly. Suddenly, there was a flash white light and an exhilarating rush of speed, then you find yourselves in a wooded place. One that was particularly warm for this time of year.
Gio looks around to get a bearing.
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