"Since the Age of Lost Omens eh? Either he must be ancient by now, or time is wrecked ..."
"Also" Alþórel adds "The Eldred are morphologically similar to a race from our world known as the Elves, and it seems likely could be descended from the same stock. How many Eldred are, and assuming they do not die of violence how long do they tend to live?"
The Eldred thinks for a moment. "I do not know anything about any Aroden. Though I guess you can ask in the temple of the brush here. Some of the priests might know if it is a god as you say, or at least lead you in the right direction."
The Eldred folds his arm. "As for the water spirits all I know is they have been baiting Eldred and draining them of their essence. Using it to power something. The lakes are connected to somewhere though I can not approach it to investigate, the ones here I have hired do not have the skill set to investigate past dispatching the water spirits. I believe they were placed here by the King of Whispers though you say that the spirit wants to contain this 'Aroden'. This information could prove to be useful, ask if you need aid in this as I would like to get rid of the problem. I can not give you men however as you have likely seen they are not themselves after such a venture"
He then continues to answer Alþórel. "I presume we are long lived though as new generations are born they are much shorter lived than their others. The oldest first generation Eldred currently living is around 4000 years old. Second generation Eldred live for around 2000 years, there are a few about from those of the first generation who have decided to have a family very late in their life."
"Hmmm... Few elves live a thousand years, and most are dead in half that. While you look and talk like elves, there are differences. Differences that may be wearing off."
As Elise pushes a few more coins over the counter and gets herself an ale too, she finally notices the strangely familiar man watching them. She gives her companions a nod in his direction before grabbing her drink and heading over to his table. "Hail stranger! Mind if we have a seat?" Without waiting for a reply she grabs a chair and sits down. "Tough times, eh?" she comments and downs a health dose of ale. "Now - I'm guessing we haven't met yet. And still, you're the only one here that is remotely familiar..." Elise scrutinises the man, trying to make out his features. Perhaps he was human too ?
The Eldred is quite intrigued. "Elves in our folklore are immortal great beings, I am guessing they might be different to what the tales say. Or are at least different from where you come from. I am beginning to doubt a lot of our past recently with all the recent debacles and cover ups in the houses."
The Eldred then answers Amelia's question "As far as I know they do not reappear, though the magic of the lake remains. I still hesitate to send Eldred there but it seems like you could probably investigate it."
The Eldred is surprised by Elise's forward attitude but swings with the punches. "Yes tough times indeed." He looks down to his armour. "You have likely met someone from my house, he shows her his spear. The spear is a bone like spear, very similar to the spear you found on the corpse at the start of the Well. Looking over him, he is Eldred, he has seen a lot of recent fights though Elise can see recently healed scars and fresh bruises.
"I seem to have grabbed your attention which is good, you strange folk might be what I need." He leans in so other tables can't hear. "I've defected because of something I found out. Now I'm not usually the vengeful sort but what my house is doing seems deplorable to me. I want to do something about it. If I go in with other Eldred though it will just cause more tension, you guys though .. you could pass off as bandits. Want to hear about what I found and my plan?"
He leans back. "You might wonder why I'm quite upfront about this to you, honestly as outsiders I doubt many Eldred higher up than footmen would listen to anything you have to say so I see no harm in it. I warn you most Eldred will view you as troublemakers." He chuckles somewhat arrogantly. He might have a point but even he is coming off as a little xenophobic.
"Perceptive bunch, then," rumbles Calathar, sitting down beside Elise and regarding the unnamed Eldred.
Elise rolls her eyes. -Yey- Making a reputation for myself as a bandit, a perfect start for a new world! Precisely what I had in mind. But his comrade died in the Well ... She shrugs. "Eh. No harm in listening-" Unless it is one of Alþórel's spells... "-but I can make no promises that I will do more." Elise takes a healthy swing of ale and waits the Eldreds response.
Alþórel nods
"Oh, Elves die; but then they are reborn. Each life only lasts so long, but over lifetimes they are immortal. "
"As a stranger I am not familiar with your history or how the Houses might be covering things up. I'd be interested to know more about you, your world and your history, however."
Dreyyn stands silently, having nothing to add to the conversation.
The Eldred nods "A lot of our history has been mired with falsehoods. Mostly so that as far as I can tell the upper class can keep all the houses angry at each other. One universal thing I can say is that at some points the houses were part of the same kingdom." The Eldred paces for a few steps. "I do not know what they are covering up to be entirely honest with you I just know that when I decided to go digging for answers about the king of whispers my research was deflected by 3rd parties or I found leads that didn't exist."
The Eldred shrugs "The official story with a few discrepancies depending on which house tells the story is the king of whispers was once the king of the Eldred kingdom. He ruled as two beings, an Eldred and a disembodied voice, hence is name the king of whispers. Most of the rest of the history is how he ruled except for the day he disappeared. From the great kaleidoscope, the plane that grants this place its colours, he returned with an artifact that he left for safe keeping. Then he vanished. Again that's as far as the history books would say I'm doubting much of that is true at all."
The Eldred smiles. "The name is Daeron. I was part of excursion group to find out why large creatures were attacking our city. I wasn't the first of these to go however. The first group that went ahead of me had no contact back at all to the rest of the house. A lot of my friends were part of that group. Now I, as a concerned citizen decided to ask my superiors about this before we left. However they didn't seem to care about the group nor did they seemed that concerned about the monster problem at all. This was suspicious to me so I decided to stay just a little longer while the rest of my group pushed on ahead. I stayed in the city for another day spying on my superiors. I overheard them talking about the end of days. Now that bit seemed a little stupid but next they talked about using the 'rift' as a distraction while they send others to find the Zilatan stone."
Daeron leans in again. "So first before I continue, my superiors are fine just sending people away to their deaths to satiate their own greed of an artifact. An artifact that may not even exist." He sighs. "However they said they had a way to track this, something called a human, they said this young human had a way to seek out the stone because of something innate in her blood. So they were going to use her to power some sort of scrying. They will likely just give it to soldiers and not tell them what they're looking for and send them on their way!"
Daeron moves his arm so one of his fists is planted on the table. "I want to get that human, even if just to spite my superiors."
Being as old as he is, Alþórel has heard near everything in hid lifetime.
Alþórel's jaw drops.
"Figures. the weak using the strong."
Nethan eager to recover the binding stone from Seph, pipes up regarding the essence draining lakes, "I for one would not be against destroying the life draining powers from the lake or lakes. Anything that benefits the King of Whispers and drains the essence out of a living being needs to be destroyed."
Elise listens to Daerons story with half an ear as she sips her ale and waits for food. Figures that the other houses would send scouts too - not just 'our house'. Should have asked them about the garb earlier ... But when he starts to speak about 'something called a human' her interest reignites and she leans in close again, with a spark in her eye. She followed his every word with focus, shuddering as he mentions 'something in her blood' That do sound familiar. But I'm not that 'young' (unless I compare to the old gruffs of the team. But then the world itself could probably be considered a youngster. Hah!) and neither do I believe what's in my blood could help them find anything but a swift death. No, there must have been someone whom passed trough before us - or someone who was already here somehow ... Perhaps trapped in the Well? The first slain patrol we found seems to have been dead for quite some time ... Hmh... When the eldred stops talking Elise looks away, seemingly lost in thoughts. After a moment she looks back and grins. "Yeah. I'm sure we could be persuaded to find this 'human' *cough*. But how the heck do you expect to find her first - if your entire house is on the hunt already?" she asked, hoping that he had an ace up his sleeve. Or, I guess, we could wait for them to find her and then simply *take* her from them ...
Nethan nods his head, "Not only the colors but other things as well but no matter. Yes, please explain the Kaleidoscope to us?"
"A tale for a tale."
"A long time ago in our world an evil man - a human we think - used terrible means to become a great power. He ruled as a wizard-king. But he saw that he would age and die, and would not have it. He laid a plan."
"He fought the god Aroden in a lake and was thought slain."
"Much later he returned as a Lich - an undead creature whose life and soul had been stored elsewhere. He conquered much, and held it for a long time. Eventually he was imprisoned - for he could not be killed, as no one could find where his soul and life was stored."
"He is imprisoned to this day. He is named Tar Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant."
"Recently - a few centuries ago - Tar Baphon's enemy, the god Aroden, vanished and is thought to be dead. Aroden is the god of humanity."
"There are so many parallels with your story and what the spirit of the lake said that I cannot believe it is a coincidence. I think perhaps Tar Baphon knew of, or constructed, this place. I believe he orchestrated it so that one day it could slay the god Aroden. Further... I think Tar Baphon's soul may be here. If we can find it, we can destroy it and in so doing destroy a great evil."
Flynt's eyes narrowed as soon as blood was mentioned in conjunction to magic. Too often the two seemed to be linked in a very literal way. His chest hurt slightly at the thought and he idly rubbed his shirt over the scar hidden there. Since leaving the Wastes he had seen both wonders and terrors wrought by excessive magic, limited only by the ambitions of its wielders. No doubt this scrying would not go well for the girl in question.
"I'm a decent hand at tracking and this wouldn't be our first manhunt, Elise," He said idly, trying to mask his sudden interest in the conversation and likely failing miserably.
Nodding at Alþórel's words, Dreyyn simply says, "Finally, some direction."
The Eldred listen's to Alþórel tale very intently. Seph is fidgeting uncomfortably presumably at the idea that a great evil might be locked in here with them. The Eldred finally replies after a bit of thought. "This definitely merits further investigation if what you say is true. I am not sure if the Whispering Tyrant as you call him is still around, as I would've thought most of the plane would know. I guess he could be hiding." The Eldred begins pacing again.
"Would you be willing to help us get to the bottom of this? I feel that our goals are the same, as whatever is causing the problems here most likely is linked to the Whispering Tyrant. If getting rid of him stops Eldred randomly dying I'm all for it." The Eldred then bows a a small degree and says. "Forgive for not introducing myself earlier as I didn't think we would talk much beyond this impasse, but I think that has changed. My name is Sarangerel"
"As for the Kaleidoscope it is a realm similar to that of positive or negative planes and how they bestow energy to their connected planes. The Kaleidoscope is held quite close to this plane and it gives colour and pigment their own magical properties. Admittedly not every coloured object has its own magic but when you can manipulate colour you can at least draw dregs of energy to form the coloured magic. For example." He holds reaches in his sleeve and draws out a small red box. With a small pulse of magic it starts to shape itself, changing into red branches and leaves. It then molds itself into a red dagger and branches elongate wrapping around Sarangerel's arm. "This is why places of fluctuating colour are dangerous places if you hear any of the other Eldred talking about them. Plants or terrain without a static colour are unstable. Using colour magic there causes.. issues, and often backfire." He states.
Daeron scratches his head a bit. "I believe they already have the human, they said they would use her blood to find the stone. So likely they will being giving conduits to the grunts like me to find 'an object' using the blood as a form of tracking device." He shakes his head a bit. "Though you are right, we would need to find her in order to steal her. The best place I know where to look is the capital, at least start with some interrogations."
Daeron states then. "In terms of payment, other than all the money I have, there are a lot of magic items held up in the places that my superiors hold themselves up in. You are free to take what you want and I'll remove the colour from them so they can't track them. Does that sound fair?" He asks.
Nethan nods at Al's words, "Please forgive me, that is correct, his official alias is the Whispering Tyrant, not the King of Whispers. Regardless, I have a feeling this whole, or pieces of this place is his soul and I also have a feeling we will be running into a more corporeal form of him as well. If Tar-Baphon did not get dispersed as I will call it, he would have most certainly been the God of Magic by now, perverting our art. Mortals and Immortals with that kind of power just do not simply perish. They are like life in general, they find a way of surviving and adapting to pressures within their environment. We need to purge what remains of Tar-baphon for not only the Eldred's sake but for all of our sake including any corporeal form or forms we find of him."
As Sarangerel begins to speak, Nethan listens...
"Well met, Sarangerel, my name is Nethan and I will let my colleagues introduce themselves."
Nethan then walks over to Seph while listening to Sarangerel and colleagues, "Seph, by any chance do you have that binding stone or who can I ask to acquire it from?"
"Hmh. Yeah, we can hardly let them drain this poor gal of all her blood. I'm in. As for a reward ... We are not really interested in obtaining all your life savings, I'm sure we can find plenty to satisfy our material lust with her!" Bloody weird - they track goods by the paint here? Eh, whatever. Probably something magic related. I'm sure Neth or Al can take a look at it ... She extends her arm for a handshake. After a few seconds, she adds with a grin. "It's a customary tradition to show agreement where I come from. Just take my hand and I'll take care of the rest!
"I am Alþórel. I think we have the same - or at least similar - goals."
"Would you mind doing that color-magic again?"
Seph picks up the stone again and hands it over. "Eh we're done with it now. We'll be getting the reward from Sary soon."
You see a visible twitch one Sarangerel's face, Seph notices. "Ah see... that's what happens when you call me Madam! You know how it feels." The goblin cackles manically for a brief moment.
Sarangerel nods at Alþórel, then let's the dagger change shape again. The spell looks to be part Transmutation and part necromancy. Necromancy in only the sense that it is drawing magic from another plane as opposed to using the plane's magic itself. It is using that drawn magic to perform a polymorph effect on the dagger, though this effect seems limited only to the wood. You doubt it could be done on anything else.
Daeron cocks his head to one side the shrugs, he then takes Elise's hand and shakes it.
Nethan nods to Seph, Thank you Seph, I hope your reward is most glorious. Perhaps this stone will help in extinguishing the Eldred menaces at the lakes and maybe more? Nethan places the stone in his pack for further studying at a more appropriate time. Nethan follows Amelia out the door to the Inn to watch her from behind.
As Amelia enters the inn Elise waves her over and shoves a bowl with something that appears to have been deep fried. Someone has taken a sample out the meal with a sharp knife. "There you are! We were just enjoying the exotic culinary surprises. Here, try some Barghest"
"It is good to meet you Sarangerel. I need to talk to my other companions about this. I'm sure we can help."
Excusing himself he follows his companions to the inn.
Nethan walks into the Inn behind Amelia and looks around at all of the activity, then frowns a little knowing what all of this bustling activity most likely means for getting a room. He walks over to counter and talks to the Inn clerk, "Well met sir, I take you have no rooms remain because of this activity?"
The innkeeper smiles and rubs his hands. "Yes sir, there are quite a lot of tenants at the moment. I am sorry but tonight you will have to use the common room. I hope that isn't too much of a hassle?"
Daeron meanwhile discusses a few things with the group. "Getting to the capital is going to take about 2 days of travel. I don't want to make it obvious that we're coming especially with an obvious outsider group. So I suggest walking. There are dangers in the wilds but I do not think they will be much of a threat for you."
Daeron then looks over the group. "I do not know your skills, how would you all best approach breaking into a guarded facility and finding something that a group keeps under wraps? I can give you the layout of the facility however."
The group of Eldred you came with and the dwarf are chatting away, but you can see Larkscall is getting a little wary of the continued conversation though you doubt he can hear anything of it.
"It seems to me we have a decision. The Eldred we came through the door with... should we bring them in on what we face and trust they will understand, ask them to stay here, or send them on their way."
"Also - Daeron? - Daeron when you say walk for two days, do you mean not riding, or is there a different transport mechanism you were thinking of?"
Elise glances at Larkscall for a moment and looks thoughtful. His uniform did not match Daerons house. Perhaps their houses are at odds, that might be trouble! And, considering that he too was poking around in the Well his masters may have similar plans... She turned her attention back to the conversation at hand and grinned. "I like breaking, but I believe we can do better. More discreet atleast! As for the others, I'm not sure they would be like to be seen with us if we are to attempt this. I know enough of politics to know 'your' house Daeron won't take this laying down, especially if they spot us with the troops of another house ..."
"Walking" He replies to Alþórel "I do not have 7 mounts lying about to loan you. Nor do the quarter masters here actually have any to spare. We can perhaps "acquire" some along the way?"
Amelia brings up the question about flying in to which Daeron says "There are great owls yes, though again we'd have to find some. I hear there are some in the forest that we could ask for aid, though that might take longer than actually walking. It could warrant an effort if we can find out where some might be."
Daeron ponders on what Elise says "Of course there will be resistance if we are spotted, though you don't look like you are from another house. Who would you mean exactly?"
"Acquiring mounts would not be a problem, Daeron."
"A good point Elise. Perhaps we should ask our companions to stay here temporarily."
Nethan frowns then nods at the Innkeeper with a cordial smile, "Thank you for the information."
Nethan catches up with the others, "Who's Daeron?"