All of them skitter at the surprise food thrown at them. They all look over the food then look up at Elise asking something of them.
"Food, yes!" They poke at it. "Of course it isn't free. Like most of the surface." The mutant points up above them. "It's safer here at least you didn't trod on us like many of them up there." The mutant smiles, then replies to the question. We can be your guide, we know all that walk over us. We drink their filth, see what they discard. He laughs. "Where do you want to go?" It asks finally.
With the way they talk about other Eldred it sounds like these people were homeless Eldred before.
Nethan relaxes and is taken back by Elise's warm welcome. "Paranoid" Nethan sends Elise a missive, "Don't forget to introduce us and we probably have more food for them." Nethan turns to the group, "Ok, let's take out some of our good food to help seal this friendship when we all proceed from around the corner." Nethan takes out some of his food which has been well preserved in the Bag of Holding.
Al leaves his face untouched, but adopts the method of speaking.
"Out of the city."
He keeps his face calm, but he is troubled. People are too valuable to the Elves he knows for any of them to be treated like this. Castoffs, mutated by alchemy, or magic... Someone needs to help them.
"Just leaving? The mutant asks while eyeing even more food coming out of the bags. "We'll make sure you get out, you seem kind to the downtrodden. The other mutants happily accept any food you do give them and begin carrying it with them. The mutant that has been talking to you waves his arm, beckoning you to follow.
Dreyyn has nothing to say to them. He will watch them with care, remaining several paces behind them.
Nethan gives them two days worth of food and speaks in Draconic, "Vinxa cirau iri! Unsinti achthend, ui mobi tivol yth shilta tir ihk wux?" For any draconic word they don't understand, Nethan uses elven.
Thank you kind ones! Besides food, is there anything else we can do for you?
"Well, this went well!" Elise comments in common before switching back to the hodge-podge mix of poor elven and draconic. As they follow their guide, Elise tries to gauge how chit-chaty he is - and see if she can't extract his story from him. He might be a stinking mutated sewer dweller, but we don't have those back home ...!
"Anything else?" The mutant shrugs "I would not know what to ask never had the opportunity." The it sighs "Not since I was a child anyway"
Approaching some more branching tunnels the group sees a set of Eldred in similar clothing to the Alchemists. Though these seem to be on cleaning duty. A lot of them are just taking out the muck that is too big to fit past grates. There are several of them that are rooting around further in the muck however, they seem to be digging for something specific. The mutants tell you to wait as they finish their duties. One of the mutants points to an Eldred in black similar to Xanroar and says "Mysterious folk, We don't know what they are looking for"
The tunnels suddenly start winding a lot more, this part of the city looks to be a lot older. At least the sewage does. It has just a long tunnel with pipes feeding to it from the roof instead of orderly branches. The mutants tip toe around many of the falling sewage from the roof of the tunnel. Occasionally they will point at one of them and there is a small blind creature similar to a mole save for not having fur, hanging from the ceiling. The are waiting patiently until they see paper that has been discarded and they grab the paper then burrow away with it. Returning shortly after then patiently waiting once more. Seems like they are building nests. The mutants say "Small creatures hold many surprises. Inside their tunnels, they hide jewelry and gems. The like shiny things. Sometimes ends up here."
Nearing what the group presumes to the edge of the city as the tunnels seem to be getting larger like an estuary, they see that instead of flowing out directly to a lake there seems to be large funneling drops with grates where much of the water flows. The tunnels do continue past that point but it looks like water that is past here is very thick and filled with the rest of the waste. The water presumably drops down to be re-filtered while the waste compounds someplace nearby. The group begins to see that the piles of waste occasionally move or shudder unnaturally. One of the mutants says. "Don't go rooting through. It's never worth it .
Upon reaching the edge of the city there is a large opening that feeds the rest of the waste to an abscess where it piles up. Though the pile does not look big enough to have been weeks and weeks of waste. Likely some group of Eldred come to clean or dispose of the waste in some way. There doesn't seem to be any here now however.
The mutants then say "Here we are... Out and safe." Upon seeing you to your destination they begin to leave, smiling a toothy grin before returning to the sewers.
The way back to the outpost is through the forest in front of them. Though the day has been long and likely the group will need to rest.
Both Amelia and Dreyyn can retrace their steps once they have moved enough away from the city. They also can probably find a decent place to hide away from any patrols that might be searching for them, as no doubt they have no spotted the carnage left behind under the mansion.
"Take care friends"
Alþórel is maudlin as the strange Eldred head off.
Such an urge to call them back - but what can I offer them out here but more danger?
Alþórel scans the sky - and the trees - for birds.
Alþórel doesn't see many birds. He does spot one or two very loud ones that even a cursory glance can't miss. Somewhat plump birds with fluffy green feathers and reddish tail feathers squawking at each other in the trees ahead.
"What could be found down here and not up in the city?" Elise muses "'Fresh' bodies?"
"Thank you!" Elise offers with a wave as farewell.
As soon as the mutants all left she swiftly makes her way out into nature, simply falling over on the clean soil and smiling.
"Muuuuuuuch better. So much filth, accumulated by a single city. Can't be good for ones health!"
After enjoying a brief moment of not-sewers, Elise is ready to move out. Camping in the forest was vastly preferable to camping close to the city, both patrol avoidance wise and mood wise.
Al excuses himself, and walks ahead a little, careful not to stare at the parrots. From a pocket he pulls a few seeds from a day's trail rations and holds them in his palm, then looks up and calls out in a raucous shriek.
"Hey! Hey! You guys want some seeds? I need some help! Don't worry about the clumpers behind me - I'll keep you safe! I've got seeds!"
"Haven't seen him." Dreyyn responds. He looks around for signs they're being followed, and tries to cover their tracks as they move along.
Amelia and Dreyyn try to figure out where Daeron could be. They see they have been out of sight of the city's surface for a while now. As they move away they see the city's centre in an uproar. Possibly because the guards have no found out what they did.
The first place they go to check is one of the gates that's nearby. The two of them do the smart thing of being well out of sight. They see that the city guard is on alert and are checking on everyone coming through. They are being certain that no-one is going out without their notice.
Both of them spot Daeron amongst the crowd. It is very hard to see him amongst the sea of yellow cloaks but they do spot him. He seems to be stuck with many who just want to leave the city under normal business, for him not so normal but presumably he will leave under that pretense. Possibly notifying him of what they are planning and resting could be a good idea. Or the group could just wait for him.
The two birds stop squawking at each other long enough to notice the food on offer. The start cooing inquisitively until one of them is brave enough to fly over and land on Alþórel's shoulder, slowly edging its way down his sleeve.
Dreyyn leans over to Amelia, whispering, "We should wait until he gets out and breaks from the crowd, then meet him and lead him to our spot."
- Al speaks fluent Parrot.
"No-one come too close. They're a bit nervous."
Nethan shakes his head at what is occurring and wishes the group was in the position to help what is happening down the sewers. As the group exits the sewers, Nethan says to the mutant, "Thank you for your guidance out of here. If we are ever in the position to help you more, we will including more food if that is all you want."
Nethan nods, "Sounds good for now, let's wait for Daeron."
Elise crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. "Oookay then. I hope we don't disturb the parrots then ..."
Nethan talks quietly to Elise, "You know, nothing has been normal to us about this realm?"
The bird slowly begins to each from Alþórel's hand then squawks at him curiously. From what he understands it's saying 'Food that's not a trap?'
Some of the group that have gone closer to the gate wait for Daeron to come out spot a few patrols getting dangerously close to them.
Though the group stays well hidden and out of sight from any of them. Daeron passes by on his own about 30-45min later, the amount of guards walking about seem to be getting larger and larger. Once the three near the gate grab his attention they begin to leave and Daeron asks. "That was some blockade, I take it with this huge alert of guards that you successfully got that girl out of there?"
To Daeron, Dreyyn replies, "Come see for yourself." and leads him back to the others that have gone forward, to move back as a group for rendezvous.
"I don't think he was a graveknight until later, and then corrupted. Or did I miss something? Anyway yes, we have the girl."
Elise nods a greeting to Daeron and joins the speculation herself.
"Wasn't he disguised all the time? Probably played us for fools ... I'll make sure to rip off his smug face the next time we meet!"
Nethan shrugs and looks at Elise, "Maybe we should do that from now on with everyone we meet in this realm?"
"Disguise is rarely a bad idea."
"Really? Just to look? That's easy!" It says in agreement, seemingly accepting Alþórel's offer. "So I perch near to where you are hiding?"
Daeron ponders Amelia's question quite hard. "None of the nights remained and when I waited for them they didn't return. After you left they seemed quite intent in going off somewhere instead of waiting for your plan to go through. Though what is a graveknight, you said undead, are they all that instead of keepers of graves?"
He isn't sure what to make of Nethan's comment. He wants to think it's a jest so he can keep his face. "Did we lose anyone?" He looks around counting people then notices Atenzuki and smiles "Yes that's most definitely her" He retrieves a small vial from his pocket, it looks to be loaded with blood. This is probably one of the phylacteries that he spoke about when he told you about the captive. "So hopefully this can stop now, at least from my people."
To the others he says "Our avian friend here has agreed to help watch over us while we camp. I've extended my protection - and a little food - in exchange."
"Hmmm - hopefully the others will be back soon. I'll use the time to study." Carefully he pulls out both the old and the new book.
"Very little I'll admit" Atenzuki replies. "I know of the powers that are instilled with me that my fore bearers at Xian Tia noticed at my birth. Now that I think about it..." Atenzuki clutches her head and starts to stumble a bit trying to remember. You've seen this before with Spook when he tries to remember anything too pertinent about Tar-Baphon. "I don't remember much of my school life as a child, I remember the schools and things. Though most of my memory is when I was training in the military and under tutelage of scholars...?" As she says the word scholar she wavers in her own retelling. "Sorry I must be tired from my imprisonment, I hope some rest will clear my mind."
She nods at the question about Tar-Baphon however "Yes, even Tian-Xia knows of the atrocities that the Whispering Tyrant has done over the years. I know only what the tales say as I have not met up with any of his followers until today." She pauses holding her hand up to her chin. "I... I don't know why but I am actually doubting that. I swear that is the truth. At least to my knowledge, yet.. I feel that what I say is amiss."
Elise nods and follows the conversation, all while going trough the motions of setting up camp. She also unpacked most of her gear, the need to ventilate them in some fresh air outweighted the inconviniance of collecting it all if they needed to leave in a hurry. Buy Al's colourful bird is standing guard! With that one watching over me, what could go wrong ...
With that all done, Elise sighs in satisfaction and nods again. Picking up a whetstone she finds a comfortable spot and goes to work on her poleaxe.
"I can take the first watch, no worries."
When the topic of Atenzuki comes up and she starts to explain what little she knows, Elise eyes light up and she follows the story closely. The similarity of the cognitive problems is evident -
"Hmm. People around here seems to be enchanted or something, you all seem so conveniently fuzzy on certain topics. You were probably studying something that would be helpful in this very moment. I guess one of Tar's tricks. I wonder if it is inherent to this world or some spell cast..."
For the first time on this hectic day, Elise starts to look worried.
"By the gods, I bloody hope we too won't start to forget important details. Maybe we ought to write down what we know - while we know it?"
"I'll take any shift."
"Thank you Amelia. That is considerate of you."
Al wastes no time in dropping off to sleep the moment a place for the camp has been found, and the central fire area designated.
Atenzuki ponders deeply about Elise's thoughts. "I don't know, if almost feels like that is something not even part of my memories yet I should know regardless. It is a weird sensation." The group knows a bit about the bloodstones having pieced together some of the clues. The thing that is strange is in all accounts the bloodstones are meant to be objects not a person. So Atenzuki is a curious being, defying what the stones are meant to be.
Nethan smiles at Elise, Dreyyn, Amelia, and Daeron, "Thank you for taking watch so Al, Atenzuki, Spook, and myself can rest."
At the campfire ...
Nethan looks at Atenzuki, "Why do people label you as a bloodstone while you are an obvious being, a young woman?"
@Amelia -
"Hmm..." The knowledge that none really thought We would start forgetting things were reassuring. Buuuut, that too might also be a trick? If I were a wizard which such a curse, I would of course start it off by giving that belief... She fell silent a little while and played with those thoughts, before shaking her head and shrugging. No sense in bothering with that now, I guess ...
Instead, there was this other quandary that stood in front of their very eyes.
"... The Bloodstones, aren't they supposed to be pieces of someone? And doesn't the legends of old say that angels and demons* can bring people back to life ...?"
*
"The Eldred think I'm sort of artifact. I don't know much about that bit." She sighs "Though the Xian said I was a blood doll, or prophet. A progeny of a lesser deity where I could use blood to cast great spells. Much of that was kept under wraps due to in being very close to forbidden magic but I don't think its damaging my soul." Atenzuki presses her fingers to her veins on her wrist. "The suppresors the Eldred put in my body still haven't passed through my system so I can't show you right now but my blood is magical is the long and short of it. Ever since a young age my Xian teachers have been teaching me how to wield it. I can't remember many of the lessons... or .. the teachers thinking about it now. Though it's muscle memory to me now."
Daeron says to Amelia "Well what I set out to do is complete. However you have come back with far more about the Eldred than I ever knew. Whatever my people are hunting is something dark. It is also affecting your world in some way too, as you did mention something about problems there when you first arrived. Atenzuki here is from your plane so I'd assume her being here is something to do with what's going on." He ponders. "Back to the outpost where I meant you might be a plan, regroup and figure out what else the Houses are after and if the other bloodstones are on this plane too."
Daeron nods about the colours. "I can show you how to use yellow if you got any of that. If not the leader of the outpost can utilise all colours. Might be prudent to speak to him to learn about the different ones."
"Being able to make the potions of colors might be useful. Especially if just anyone can throw them. Or if I could coat a blade with some."
"Huh ... Simply magic running in your blood." Elise nodded. She could understand that concept. There had been other whom had the blood of dragons in their veins, and not everyone had a martial bend.
Elise sits silently for a while until she remembered another thing she wanted to ask.
"Spook - your pet? Will it still be able to find you again if we leave the city? And if you don't mind me asking, what the *hell* was that thing?"
"My pet? Ah yes indeed." Spook settles down near the fire. "If I manage to capture him again I'll be able to control him. He isn't so much a pet as a thrall. I lost my connection when you guys almost killed me but given enough time I can get him or another thrall back. As for what it is, that one was a displacer beast. A tentacled creature that I used to keep enemies at bay while I charged otherworldly magic through my bow. Due to the time required if people get close I need some form of meat shield in the way."
Daeron picks up the pouch with the coloured liquid Amelia hands him and he draws the some of the liquid forth into the air. Seemingly bringing out like telekinesis. He briefly clenches his fists and it forms a buckler made of sand around his wrist. Amelia can see that the sand is vibrating very quickly. As Daeron places his hand on the buckler it is met with resistant, as if to show you that the small shield is indeed solid. He lets it return to colour before throwing it up in the air and it splits into small sections of sand at different points in the air before remerging. I'm not too good at that one, though the better of us can use the small pockets of sand to block arrows or make shields big enough to deflect some spells." He then lets it go out to form a cylinder of sand that seems to resonant and a frequency making a humming noise. "When you do that in a bone spear it'll cause it to float. It isn't quite "Flying" more like gliding upwards, though it has it's uses. Some soldiers can get some good use out of it if they practice hard enough but it isn't as good as wings.
Unable to stay asleep, Alþórel joins the group as Spook and Daeron talk.
"I, for one, am glad we didn't kill you Spook!" he says, emerging out of the darkness.
"Sorry to interrupt - the book kept trying to whisper to me in my dreams." he snorts "As if I were some simple sorceror! Still, it did make it difficult to sleep."
"I've been thinking. I believe the Deathknights were after the Bloodstones. I believe Atenzuki is one of them. I believe the artefact they were using leads to the closest Bloodstone - with the ability to ignore ones it is attuned to. It's very advanced magic, but if you were sending someone in, you would know they would need such an item."
"If we can locate more Bloodstones, I think there is a reasonable chance they could be joined to Atenzuki. That should increase her power. Eventually she may have enough to Ascend to Divinity." he pauses "Regardless, I think we need to find them all, and keep them from our opponents. Perhaps we can learn more as we do."
"The missing memories trouble me. There are spells that can do that... but the scale... So yes, I think we should write down our facts, and review them regularly."
"Uhum..." Elise replies, aimed at mostly everything. Al's last words had made her worry again - and since she didn't have anything to write on for the moment she just worked her blade harder with the whetstone.
Nethan listens to Atenzuki and Al while watching Amelia talk to Daeron about color magic, then looks to Al, "I am having a revelation and of course this is only theory! What if the bloodstones were fragments of Aroden and Atenzuki represents his feminine side? I know it is hard for us men to fathom a feminine side but if we men did not have a feminine side and vice versa, I do not think we could get along with each other long enough to procreate. And I believe Aroden was human at one time if I have my facts straight? I mean what better way to keep a deity imprisoned, then to fragment his soul? Of course, I may be suffering from blood loss and lack of sleep but for some reason it seems to make sense."